Into the Moonlight
by Fellykins
Summary: This is the story of Michelle Derikson. It takes place beginning in the Marauder era and continues beyond the Second Wizarding War. This is an AU Harry Potter song fic. I do not own Harry Potter or any of the songs used in this fic; they belong to their respective owners. Remus Lupin/OC is the main pairing, but there are several others throughout the fic. Rated for later chapters.
1. Days Before It All Began

_So I intended to release this on May 2__nd__ since that was Wizarding Independence Day and all. Clearly that didn't happen as it's nearly September. Better late than never, I suppose! Credit for the lyrics for this chapter goes to Katy Perry, & I don't own them, nor do I own Harry Potter as that belongs to the fantastic J.K. Rowling. I got the lyrics from a site called Alphabet Lyrics, so they also deserve some credit! At any rate, I finally bring you the prologue to Into the Moonlight!_

_Into the Moonlight is a story looking at the life of a girl named Michelle Derikson. This is her diary. From her first year at Hogwarts until her death many years later, take a look at the life of a girl who fought hard to get to where she ended up and to see the world as it was. It is an AU song fic beginning in the Marauder era and continuing on beyond the Second Wizarding War if you want an idea of the timeline. I will be using elements from the books and the movies and putting them into my own perspective. Not everyone will die, and some people who should have died will die. I hope you enjoy!_

Into the Moonlight

Prologue – Days Before It All Began

**Katy Perry** – Growing Pains

_You would think  
That I could find  
A simple song,  
A photograph of mine  
To show this public eye,  
What I have to offer  
I may not have a phd,  
Or speak  
In eloquent philosophy!  
I'm nothing more  
Than simply me you see!_

**March 10, 1960. **In a moderately sized room with white walls similar to that one would see in a hospital, there was a woman with strawberry blonde hair tied up into a messy bun resting on the hospital bed. In her arms was a baby wrapped up in a blue blanket. The baby had a tuft of light, sandy brown hair like his father, who was seated in a chair near the woman's bed, and almond shaped hazel eyes like his mother. The baby was already showing a cheerful personality as his mother held him in her arms.

"What are we going to name him, John?" the woman asked. A few strands of strawberry blonde hair from her bun had fallen out, and the man named John reached over and brushed the stray strands out of his tired wife's face, tucking them behind her ear.

"I'm not sure, Marielle. How does Alexander John sound to you?" the man replied. The woman shook her head, and even the baby boy in her arms showed its disgust by scrunching its face up and shaking his own head. John couldn't help but smile as he brushed the strawberry blonde hair out of Marielle's face again. "What about Remus John?"

A brief period of silence followed John's suggestion as Marielle pondered on it. She looked down at the child in her arms, and he seemed to like it. His face wasn't scrunched up anymore; there was a bright smile there now, and that smile on her dear son's face brought a smile to Marielle's face too.

"Remus John Lupin it is then."

_What I am trying to say  
I'm just a babe  
In so many ways!_

**January 18, 1963. **A woman in a hospital room with cream colored walls stood near a simple white crib with pink bedding that held two babies. Her brown hair that fell to just below her shoulders was a complete mess, and black circles framed her chocolate brown eyes. Although the two babies were sound asleep, completely unaware that their mother was watching them at all, one could clearly tell that a tuft of black hair sat on their heads.

"Ciara? Do you mind if I come in?" The woman spun around to see a man standing in the doorway. Ciara nodded, and the man stepped into the room, quietly closing the door behind him. His hair was a darker brown than the woman's, and his eyes were emerald green. "Has Mason come along to visit?"

"I was told he came last night to sign the birth certificates, but he left right after that. That's what my sister told me this morning when she stopped by to visit and see the girls," Ciara replied. The man approached her and gently pulled her into a hug; Ciara just snuggled into it. Her voice was softer than it normally was when she spoke again. "He doesn't care, Rich. He doesn't want anything to do with them. I'm so scared to bring them home. I don't want anything happening to them."

"Don't abandon them. They need you, and they need to be together. I'll make sure that sick bastard you have to call a husband doesn't hurt you or the girls," Rich replied. His voice was soft, but not nearly as soft as Ciara's, and it was firm too. Ciara looked up at him with a smile that lit up her tired face, and that brought a smile to Rich's face. He moved slightly so that he could see the sleeping girls in the crib, but he made sure to keep an arm around Ciara's shoulders. "So why don't you tell me what you've named them? I'm sure you've done that much by now."

"Michelle Ashley and Mikaela Alyson Derikson."

_I'm still growing,  
Still stretchin'  
Still breaking  
In these new shoes  
Looking for a way  
To make a mark of my own  
I'm just a spring chick,  
Wet behind the ears  
It's a part of life  
So there's no need to fear  
These growing pains  
That I'm going through_

**August 14, 1968. **Within the residential district of London, there was a simple white house with black shingles that made up the roof. Two cars sat outside of the home, one white like the house and the other crimson red. The yard had flowers in several different varieties and colors as well as a single tree that provided shade for the house and the cars.

Inside of the home was a different story. The home was nicely decorated with yellow walls, red curtains, a blue sofa, and two additional armchairs of the same color. A coffee table with a cherry finish created a divider between the television set and the sofa. A white vase with floral decorations painted on to it held fresh flowers of the purple and orange varieties. Two folders, one red and one yellow, were on the coffee table, and several miscellaneous items such as papers, car keys, and the remote for the television were scattered amongst it. A small set of four steps took one to a landing before walking up a flight of stairs leading to the second story of the home.

On the opposite side of the couch was a man with black hair and cold, blue eyes. Glass covered the floor, and a handful of a girl's toys looked as if they had been tossed around or as if someone had intentionally tried to destroy them. Not too far away from him was a woman with brown hair and soft, chocolate brown eyes; she was situated near the counters with a black marble finish that allowed one to peer into the kitchen through the glassless window that had been cut into the wall there. Purple and red blotches covered her lightly tanned skin.

"Why the hell can't you keep those bloody brats in check, Ciara?! If you're going to keep them in this damn house, then keep them in line!" the man shouted. Two girls with the same black hair that their father had were standing on the landing, trying to stay out of sight from the adults.

"They're your daughters just as much as they are mine, and if you don't like it, then you're more than welcome to leave, Mason. This is my house," Ciara replied. She had raised her voice slightly, but not nearly as much as she would have liked to. As far as she was aware, the girls standing on the landing were still upstairs in their room sleeping. Mason didn't seem to care either way as he lunged forwards towards Ciara and pinned her to the wall with a hand on her throat.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that, you stupid bitch!" Mason yelled. Spit flew out of his mouth as he spoke, and most of it landed on Ciara's face. She was struggling to get free from his hold as he started applying pressure to her throat. It was at this point that one of the girls, the one with black hair that fell to her shoulders, ran towards the man and started beating on him. This caused the man to release Ciara, who slid down the wall and on to the floor, and turned to push the girl away. She only stumbled back a little, so the man shoved her away. That caused her to fall to the floor and slide back a little.

The other girl, this one with slightly longer black hair than the first girl, approached the girl who had fallen and sat on her knees next to her. She was trying to see if the other girl was okay when she started to move away. Mason was making his way towards her now. He would have grabbed her by the pink shirt she was wearing had the door not slammed open.

A man with dark brown hair and emerald green eyes stood in the doorway. He was holding a rod of cherry wood in his hand, and he was pointing it at Mason. The girl with long black hair's soft blue eyes widened slightly as did Mason's. The new man moved towards the young girls as he kept the rod pointed at Mason. He stopped when he was close enough to the girls.

"If you dare lay a hand on Mikaela, I'll make sure that you regret it," the man said. The girl with long black hair named Mikaela looked up at the man. Her eyes were filled with fear, and the man looked down at her briefly to give her a reassuring smile before bringing his attention back to Mason.

"Fuck this shit. I'm leaving," he announced. He made his way towards the door, shoving Mikaela towards the man, who kneeled down to catch the girl so that she wouldn't fall. Mason stopped when he reached the door and turned back around, focusing his attention directly at Ciara. "Keep the brats. I don't want to see them, and I don't give a damn about them anyways. They're a waste of space."

The door slammed shut once Mason crossed to the other side. Mikaela scampered away from the man and towards Ciara, throwing herself into the woman's arms as tears started falling from her blue eyes. The man had focused his attention on the young girl who was lying on the floor. He was helping her sit up now, propping her up against his legs and using his free arm to support her.

"Michelle, are you alright? Are you in any pain?" the man asked. Michelle nodded her head as she coughed. She was having trouble breathing, and she was coughing a lot more now in between strained breaths.

"Rich, that spell you used before…" Ciara said softly. The man looked up at her. A red mark was on her neck from where Mason had tried to choke her. Her voice was also hoarse, and Mikaela's face was buried in her chest. Rich could hear the young girl's sobs, and he could see a few tears falling from Ciara's eyes. But even through all of that, there was a small, weak smile on her face. "It's her asthma. It must have been triggered when Mason shoved her down. That spell helped last time you used it on her. Do it again."

Rich nodded, and he placed the cherry rod of wood on Michelle's chest. It started to glow a faint shade of blue, and Michelle's breathing started improving almost instantly. Her coughing was beginning to fade away. By the time the light from the wand faded away, her breathing had gone back to normal, and her cough had disappeared. Michelle snuggled into Rich's one armed embrace as he placed the rod of wood on the cherry finished end table next to the telephone. He picked Michelle up and carried her over to where Ciara and Mikaela were. He gently set Michelle down next to Ciara, and no sooner had Michelle been placed on the ground did she quickly snuggle into her mother's embrace. Rich sat down on the ground next to Ciara. He brushed the brown hair out of her face and wiped the tears away with his hand.

"She just needs to rest now. Are you alright, Ciara?" Rich asked. He moved to brush some more hair out of her face, but she grabbed his hand and squeezed it. That brought a bit of a smile to his face.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Take the girls to their room."

_I don't regret,  
I'm not ashamed  
That I haven't yet begun  
To speaketh ways...  
(As the wisest of men),  
Oh perhaps some day  
But for now I'm grateful  
To be a part  
Of the family tree,  
While the man upstairs  
Does his work on me  
It's a job that may  
Take eternity to complete_

**October 6, 1968. **A young boy with sandy brown hair and hazel eyes was walking in a forest alongside a man who looked a lot like him. The only difference was that the man was clearly much older than the boy, and his eyes were stormy grey rather than hazel. The man stopped when he heard some growling, and he pulled the boy closer to him.

"Stay close to me, Remus," the man stated. Remus nodded as he began looking around for the source of the growl. There was another growl, and by the time either of the males had any time to react, a large, furry creature was flying towards them. The man pushed Remus away, and both of them fell to the ground as the creature flew over them. All three of them had recovered quickly, and the creature was making its way towards Remus now. The young boy was running towards his father when the creature attacked him.

"Protego!" the man shouted. A bright light came from the rod of wood made of yew in the man's hand. The creature was blasted away, but it had already done damage to the young boy. The man ran towards Remus, scooped the boy up into his arms, and they disappeared into thin air before the creature could come back to them to cause any further problems.

Hours later, the man was pacing in a white hallway. There was a black sofa situated on the wall, and a fireplace wasn't too far away from that. The door leading into the hospital room was across from the sofa. The man's hair was a complete mess, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in days. A woman with long, strawberry blonde hair had approached him, but the man hadn't noticed her presence until he nearly ran into her.

"Marielle," he gasped when he turned to face her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, John," Marielle replied. She stepped into her husband's embrace, resting her head on his chest and staring at the door. "I just want to know that he'll be okay. I just want my Remus to be okay."

Marielle shook her head before burying her face into John's chest. John tightened his grip on Marielle as he heard her sob. His yellow button up shirt, which was already covered in blood, was being soaked by the tears falling from the eyes of the woman in his arms. He would have started crying; he wanted to. Marielle was already crying though, and John had to be strong for her. He'd have to be strong for Remus too. Remus and Marielle needed him right now.

"John? Marielle?" Marielle was the first to look up. A dark skinned woman was standing in the doorway. Although she had looked up, Marielle's grip on John hadn't loosened at all.

"Is my Remus okay?" Marielle demanded.

"He'll be fine, but he has been infected with lycanthropy. He was bitten by a werewolf tonight. The wounds he received will heal, but they'll leave scars that won't fade away," the woman replied. Marielle broke away from her husband, tears still falling from her hazel eyes, and grabbed the woman by her shoulders, shaking her.

"Well, cure him, Shanty! There has to be something you can do!" Marielle sobbed. She felt someone gently pulling her away from Shanty, and Marielle stumbled backwards into an embrace.

"There's nothing Shanty can do. There's nothing anyone can do," John said. His voice was soft, but it was emotionless. Marielle broke free of John's embrace and turned around to face him. John had to look away for a moment, unable to look at the hurt that was in Marielle's eyes. Even when he brought his attention back to her, he still couldn't look at her. He had to look at Shanty so that he could even finish his thought. "There's no cure for lycanthropy, Marielle."

"Then what do we do? What do we do when the full moon comes around next month? And how do we tell Remus?" Marielle asked. Her voice was barely above a whisper. John stepped forward and pulled her into an embrace again. He could feel her shifting into a more comfortable position in his arms. John kissed the top of her head and sighed.

"We'll think of something, Marielle. Don't worry."

_Just when I've learned  
All I can,  
Those growing  
Pains up  
And kick on in again!_

**November 5, 1968. **The sun was beginning to set over the horizon. There was only another hour or so of daylight left, and then the moon would come out. It was a full moon tonight.

Remus stood with his back to a metal door. John stood in front of him, and Marielle was by his side. Remus and Marielle shared the same facial expression, one of fear. There was just one difference. Marielle looked much more distressed than Remus, and her face was stained from all of the crying she had done earlier in the day.

"Everything will be okay, Remus," John said gently. "We'll be here for you in the morning. We promise."

"I'm not scared, dad. I'm really not," Remus replied. He sounded relatively confident, and a bit of a smile appeared on his face. A smile that wiped away the fear that had been there earlier. Marielle smiled and embraced Remus tightly. John had to pull her away before she started crying again. He knew it would happen. He knew Marielle wasn't prepared for what was going to happen tonight, and he knew that Remus wasn't either. Remus smiled at his father before opening the metal door and entering the dark basement that was hidden behind it, closing it once he had crossed the threshold. John placed his hand on it, and the locks that were on it magically clicked shut. It was only a matter of time now before the life of young Remus Lupin would be changed forever.

_Just when I've learned  
All I can,  
Those growing  
Pains up  
And kick on in again!_

**June 23, 1969. **Michelle and Mikaela sat on a plush red couch in Saint Mungo's. Mikaela sat patiently on the couch, reading a book. Michelle, on the other hand, was a different story. She was rather restless, and she would shift positions every couple of minutes.

"Michelle, if you knew we were going to be here for a while, why didn't you bring something to do?" Mikaela asked as she set her book on her lap. It had been about an hour and a half since the girls had arrived at Saint Mungo's with their parents. Michelle had been fine for about thirty minutes before she started to get restless, and Mikaela finally got fed up with it after about an hour.

"I don't know! I didn't think we'd be here his long! It's been hours!" Michelle whined. That resulted in a sigh from her twin.

"We've only been here for an hour and a half. Mum said we'd be here for a while, and we'd only have each other for company," Mikaela replied.

"Well, you're not very good company," Michelle mumbled. Mikaela sighed as she dog eared the page of the book she was on and closed it. She brought her full attention to her sister once the book was closed.

"Okay, fine. You have my full attention. What do you want to do?" Mikaela asked. Michelle shrugged her shoulders, resulting in another sigh from her sister. A smile lit up Michelle's face moments later.

"Let's play I spy!" Michelle shouted excitedly.

"Okay, okay, but keep your voice down. Mum and dad wouldn't be too happy if we got kicked out for being too loud," Mikaela replied. Michelle nodded as Mikaela began looking around the waiting room. When she spotted an object she wanted to use, she brought her attention back to Michelle. "I spy something that is yellow."

It was Michelle's turn to look around the waiting room. She spotted a few yellow objects. One of the posters, the flowers, and the cover of one of the magazines were yellow. It had to be one of those objects. Michelle pointed at the poster first, and Mikaela shook her head. She got the same result with the magazine cover. When she pointed to the flowers, Mikaela nodded. Michelle smiled as she began looking around for an object. She found one moments later and turned to her sister. "I spy something that is blue."

Mikaela began looking around the room for a blue object. A blue armchair next to the couch the girls were sitting on and the shirt of someone that had passed by them a few seconds ago were the only things in the room that were blue. Mikaela turned to her sister.

"Was it that guy's shirt?" she asked.

"Nope," her sister replied.

"The chair," Mikaela stated.

"Yep!" Michelle replied. This continued for a few more hours until a man with dark brown hair opened the door to the hospital room and poked his head out. He spotted the girls, and a smile lit up his tired face. The girls jumped up as soon as they spotted him.

"You can come in now, girls. You can come in and meet Alexander and Devon."

_Time after time,  
One more time and again,  
Will it ever end?  
It's the lessons in our lives  
That make us wise  
But young or old  
I am told it's the same  
Oh, these growing pains  
Never go away,  
So I'll just  
Keep on trying_

**March 10, 1971. **It was a day like any other. At least it would have been if the year wasn't 1971, and the date wasn't March tenth. Today was a special day for Remus Lupin. A very special day.

The Lupin family was sitting peacefully at the breakfast table that morning. Remus had taken on a bit of a pale appearance as the full moon was only two days away, and he wasn't really eating much. None of that mattered to him though. Today was a special day, and that was all the eleven year old Remus cared about.

As the day went on, Remus' excitement was beginning to fade away. The only mail that had arrived today was some bills that his parents had to pay. That came from the Muggle mailman. No owls had flown by the Lupin family's home. Maybe the school had forgotten. Maybe they forgot that today was Remus' eleventh birthday. They'd send the letter eventually. They had until the end of July to do it.

A knock at the door made Remus jump out of his seat in an armchair, and that sent his book flying out of his hands and onto the floor. His mother came hurrying out of the kitchen, and she opened the door quickly. A man with long white hair and a long white beard was at the door.

"Professor Dumbledore! What a pleasant surprise! Please come in!" Remus' mother said. She stepped out of the way to allow Professor Dumbledore to enter the room. The elderly man entered the room, and Remus' mother closed the door behind him.

"I have something for Mister Remus Lupin," Professor Dumbledore said. His eyes fell on Remus, who had just picked his book up and set it down on the coffee table. "You must be Remus, yes?"

Remus jumped again at the sound of his name. He brought his attention to Professor Dumbledore, and Remus was pretty sure his face was redder than a tomato. Professor Dumbledore didn't seem to mind though; he was smiling as if absolutely nothing had happened at all.

"Yes, sir. I'm Remus Lupin," Remus said timidly. Dumbledore took out a faded yellow envelope from the royal blue robes he was wearing and held it out to Remus. The eyes of Remus' parents widened when they saw the envelope. They would recognize that envelope from anywhere. They got one just like it on their eleventh birthdays too. Remus timidly took the envelope from Professor Dumbledore and looked at it. A smile made its way onto the eleven year old boy's face.

"Professor, are you sure? I mean, his condition… how would the students react to that?" Remus' father asked.

"I've prepared for that already, John. A Whomping Willow was planted on the school grounds recently, and an old shack will be connected to it. No one lives there anyways, and it's been vacated for years. I'll also be spreading a rumor around Hogsmeade so that the villagers believe it is haunted to keep them away from it. The students will never find out about Remus' condition unless he tells them," Dumbledore replied. His eyes fell on Remus again. "So do you want to come to Hogwarts?"

Remus looked from Professor Dumbledore to his parents to the letter in his hand. He had been waiting for this day for as long as he could remember. He had been waiting for the day when he would hold the Hogwarts acceptance letter in his hands. Today was that day, and Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was standing right in front of him, giving him an offer that Remus' parents thought he'd never get because of his condition. Hogwarts hadn't forgotten today was his eleventh birthday after all. Professor Dumbledore just wanted to deliver Remus' letter to him personally.

"I'd love to. I'd love to go to Hogwarts," Remus said with a smile on his face.

_Just when I've learned  
All I can,  
Those growing  
Pains up  
And kick on in again!_

**September 1, 1971. **There were only two emotions that Remus Lupin was feeling today: excitement and fear. He was excited because at eleven o'clock this morning, approximately an hour and a half from now, Remus would be boarding the Hogwarts Express and leaving for Hogwarts. He was afraid that he would be shunned, though. No one would know about his condition, but that wouldn't stop students from staying away from him. Remus took on a bit of a pale, sickly appearance each month around the full moon. A sigh escaped him as he realized he would be spending seven lonely years at Hogwarts.

The possible lack of friends could be dealt with later though. Remus still needed to pack. Most of his things were packed already. His uniform and other clothes were already packed. He even stowed away some chocolate. His cauldron, vials, brass scales, and telescope were packed too. Some of his books were in the trunk, but most of them were on his bed. Remus had been spending some time reading them since he had received them, and now it was time for him to place the few that he had been reading into his trunk with the remainder of his clothes.

That remaining hour and a half leading to the departure of the Hogwarts Express seemed to pass by fairly quickly. It seemed like five minutes ago, he was sitting in the kitchen with his mum and dad. Now he was sitting in a compartment all by himself on the Hogwarts Express. Remus took his wand out of his pocket. It was eleven and a half inches long, made out of the wood from an alder tree, and the core consisted of a single unicorn hair from a unicorn's tail. It was the fourth wand he had tried at Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley. He was beginning to get a little worried as Mr. Ollivander handed him his fourth wand, but a smile had lit up Remus' face as sparks flew out of the tip of it

Remus jumped as the compartment door slid open. A boy with jet black hair that looked like it hadn't been combed in weeks, another boy with shaggy dark brown hair, and a third boy with mousy brown hair were standing at the door. Remus pocketed his wand and smiled.

"Hi," Remus said.

"Hi! Would you mind if my friends and I joined you?" the boy with jet black hair asked.

"Sure! Come on in!" Remus replied happily. He moved over so that he was closer to the window and so that one of boys could sit next to him. The boy with jet black hair and the boy with shaggy dark brown hair sat across from Remus while the boy with mousy brown hair sat next to Remus. The boy with mousy brown hair, who was the last to enter the compartment, closed the door.

"Thanks for letting us join you. The other compartments were full," the boy with shaggy brown hair said.

"No problem. I'm Remus Lupin, by the way," Remus replied.

"Sirius Black," the boy with shaggy brown hair said.

"James Potter," the boy with jet black hair said.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew!" the boy next to Remus said. A smile lit up Remus' face. He was making his first friends. His very first friends.

_Just when I've learned  
All I can,  
Those growing  
Pains up  
And kick on in again!_

**January 17, 1974. **Michelle and Mikaela weren't exactly planning much for their eleventh birthday. Their father had to work, and their mum was too busy with their five year old brothers to actually have a legitimate party. The girls still tried to make it as exciting as they could though. That meant they had recruited their younger brothers to create a sort of party in the living room with paint.

Several hours later, their father came home from work with an unexpected visitor. The living room was covered with paint splatters in various colors, and the children were also covered in paint of various colors. It was as if they had started painting everything else in the room but the paper on the coffee table. That was about the only thing that didn't have paint on it, actually.

The unexpected visitor was an elderly man with long white hair and a matching beard. Their mother had exited the kitchen and stepped into the living room. A frown was on her face, but no one would be sure if it was because of the paint all over the room or the fact that there was an unannounced visitor in the home. One could smell chicken and pasta coming from the kitchen.

"Ciara, girls, boys, this is Professor Albus Dumbledore. He's the Headmaster at Hogwarts," the father said.

"Why is he here, Rich?" Ciara asked.

"I'm sure you remember me telling you that the girls had magical talent," Rich replied. Ciara nodded, and a smile appeared on Rich's face. "He's here to give the girls something."

"Yes, Michelle and Mikaela have an opportunity to go to a magical school to learn how to control their magical powers," Dumbledore said. He took out two envelopes from the pocket of his emerald green robes and handed one to each of the girls. The girls took the envelopes from the professor. "Inside is a letter explaining that you've been accepted to Hogwarts. You can just tell me now whether or not you want to come or not so that you don't have to fret about sending an owl to the school. Your supply list is also inside."

"Do we get to come back home?" Mikaela asked.

"Yes, actually, you do. Students are allowed to go home for the Christmas holidays and for Easter as well as for the summer," Dumbledore replied. The girls turned to their mother, who was now smiling.

"I don't see why the two of you can't go," Ciara stated.

"Yeah, just don't come home for the holidays unless it's the summer break. If this is what the house looks like when I go to work one day, I'd hate to see how it looks at any other time of the year," Rich joked. The girls smiled, and even Professor Dumbledore laughed.

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said once he had stopped laughing. "I can see that the four of you have been painting. I hope you don't mind if I clean it up."

The kids shook their head as Dumbledore took out a grey stick of wood. He waved it, and all of the paint disappeared. Ciara let out a sigh of relief; she was happy that she wouldn't have to clean all of that paint up. The boys and Michelle gasped, but Mikaela appeared to be looking at the stick of wood in Professor Dumbledore's hand curiously.

"What's that in your hand?" Mikaela asked.

"This? It's a wand. It allows you to channel your magic to produce spells like the one I just did, which was _Scourgify_, for the record. It's a cleaning spell," Dumbledore replied. A smile made its way onto Dumbledore's face, and there was a twinkle in his blue eyes. "I must say, I think you'd make a good Ravenclaw, Miss Derikson."

"What's a Ravenclaw?" one of the younger boys asked. He had brown hair and brown eyes.

"One of the four Houses of Hogwarts. Students are sorted into four Houses upon their arrival at Hogwarts. They are called Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Ravenclaws are typically students that love to learn and are talented," Dumbledore replied. He looked at the children and smiled. "I don't want to spoil all of what Hogwarts has to offer. Will you two girls attend?"

"We'd love to!" the girls said.

"Fantastic! I'll see you on September first then. Happy birthday," Dumbledore said. He smiled at the children and nodded to Rich and Ciara before leaving the house.

_Oh, baby, don't worry  
About a thang!_

**August 30, 1974. **In two days' time, Michelle and Mikaela would be boarding the Hogwarts Express, and they would be off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The girls were pretty excited. They even had a calendar in their room, and they were just marking off the days until September first. They would be going to a new school with new people. For two eleven year old girls, it was pretty exciting.

However, in order for them to have a successful first year at their new school, they needed some supplies. Their father managed to get the day off from work, so he was taking them to a place called Diagon Alley to get their supplies for school. The entrance to Diagon Alley was accessed through a pub called The Leaky Cauldron that appeared to be an old shop. The girls didn't bother to question their father, though. He knew what he was doing, apparently, as he had done this when he was eleven with his parents.

One entered Diagon Alley by tapping the bricks on the wall in a counterclockwise fashion. Witches and wizards did this using their wands. The girls' father took out his own wand, which he had explained last night was made of the wood from a yew tree and had a unicorn's tail hair as its core. It was twelve and a quarter inches long. Rich tapped the bricks in the rear of the wizarding pub in a counterclockwise fashion, and as he pocketed his wand once more, the bricks rearranged themselves to create an entrance to Diagon Alley. The girls and their father walked through the door leading to Diagon Alley, and once Mikaela walked through the door, the bricks rearranged themselves to create a wall instead of a door.

Their first stop was the wizarding bank called Gringotts. Rich told the girls that it was run by goblins. They traveled to Rich's vault with a cart that was attached to a train track. By the time they had returned to the marble entrance area of the wizarding bank, the girls wished there was a better way to get down to their father's vault. As they made their way towards the first shop, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Rich explained the wizarding money system to his daughters.

"These small brown coins are called Knuts. The silver coins are called Sickles, and the gold ones are called Galleons," Rich stated. He showed the girls each of the coins as he told them their names. He returned the wizarding money back into the velvet red pouch before continuing. "Twenty nine Knuts make up a Sickle, and seventeen Sickles make up a Galleon. That's all you really need to know about wizarding money. I usually just let the goblins at Gringotts handle the exchange rates."

About two hours later, the girls were standing in Ollivander's Wand Shop. They had already purchased all of their school supplies except for their wands. Now they were in standing in front of an old man with white hair; a tape measure was in his hand.

"Hello there. You must be the Derikson twins, yes?" the old man asked. The girls looked at each other, and then they looked back at the man before nodding. "Yes, yes, I've been expecting you. I'll just take some measurements, and we'll get you matched with a wand. By the way, I'm Mr. Ollivander."

Michelle was the first to get her measurements, and Mikaela got hers done soon after. As soon as he finished Mikaela's measurements, Mr. Ollivander went off to grab some wands. He returned moments later with eight boxes, and he set four of them down in front of Michelle and the other four in front of Mikaela.

"Alright, you first then," he said, nodding to Michelle. He opened one of the boxes in front of her and handed her the wand. "Eleven inches, mahogany, and unicorn hair."

"What do I do with it?" Michelle asked.

"Wave it. If it chooses you, it'll produce sparks," Ollivander replied. Michelle nodded and gave the wand a wave. Nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander took the wand from her and returned it to its box. He opened another box and handed that wand to Michelle. "That one is twelve and a quarter inches, cherry, and a dragon heartstring core."

Michelle gave that wand a wave too, but nothing happened again. A frown appeared on Mr. Ollivander's face as he took that wand from Michelle. He handed her a third wand from a different box once he put the second one away.

"Ten and a half inches, ebony, unicorn hair," Mr. Ollivander stated. Michelle tried waving this wand, but as with the previous two, nothing happened. Ollivander took that wand from her and returned it to the box it came it. He handed her a fourth wand from the last box that he had placed in front of her. "Very well, then. This one is eleven inches, ash, and it has a dragon heartstring core."

Michelle gave the fourth wand a wave, and red and blue sparks flew out of the tip of it. She jumped at the sight of the sparks. Mr. Ollivander smiled and clapped before handing her the box. He brought his attention to Mikaela next. He took one of the wands out of the box and handed it to her.

"Twelve and a half inches, vine, and dragon heartstring," Ollivander said as Mikaela took the wand from him. She gave it a wave, but nothing happened. Ollivander took the wand from her and handed her another one. "Eleven and three quarters inches, willow, and dragon heartstring."

Mikaela gave the second wand a wave, but once again, nothing happened. Ollivander took that wand from Mikaela and returned it to its box. He looked between the two boxes left and opened the red box. He removed the wand from that box and handed it to Mikaela.

"Eleven inches, beech, and unicorn hair," Ollivander told her as he moved the other box aside. Mikaela gave the wand a wave, and green sparks came from the tip of it. A smile lit up Mr. Ollivander's face as he brought his attention to the girls' father. "That will be fourteen Galleons for the wands, Rich."

"Very well then," Rich replied. He took out fourteen gold coins from the velvet red pouch and handed them to Mr. Ollivander.

"Thank you," Mr. Ollivander said as he took the coins and pocketed them.

"Come on, girls. We should get home now. Your mother probably already has dinner ready for us, and the boys are probably driving her insane because they're hungry," Rich said. The girls nodded and followed their father out of the wand shop. Now that they had all of their school supplies, all they had to do was wait until September first. Two more days, and they'd be on the Hogwarts Express. Two more days, and they would finally get to step foot in Hogwarts for the first time.


	2. Welcome to Hogwarts

_Hello there, and welcome to the first chapter of Into the Moonlight! I have one follower so far on the story, which makes me happy! (: I'm excited to get more! I'll try to update this as frequently as possible. I've got this planned up to the tenth chapter already, and I don't plan on planning for another ten until I finish the first ten. I hope all of you enjoy chapter one of Into the Moonlight! Lyrics are credited to Orianthi, and they came from a site called Alphabet Lyrics._

Into the Moonlight  
Chapter 1 – Welcome to Hogwarts  
September 1, 1974 ~ **Orianthi** – According to You

_According to you  
I'm stupid,  
I'm useless,  
I can't do anything right.  
According to you  
I'm difficult,  
hard to please,  
forever changing my mind.  
I'm a mess in a dress,  
can't show up on time,  
even if it would save my life.  
According to you. According to you._

Two young girls with sparkling blue eyes and black hair stood on Platform Nine and Three Quarters with their parents and younger brothers. One of the girls had wavy black hair that fell to just above her mid back, and the other had shoulder length black hair. Their mother had chocolate brown eyes filled with sadness and shoulder length brown hair; their father had messy brown hair and emerald green eyes. Both of the younger boys had messy brown hair like their father's, but one of the boys had emerald green eyes like their father and the other had chocolate brown eyes like their mother. The girl with the shoulder length black hair had the young boy with green eyes in a tight embrace.

"Oh, Alex, I'm going to miss you so much! I promise to write!" the young girl said. Her voice was soft and melodic, and it was kind of calming too. She released the boy named Alex and hugged the other one with brown eyes. "And you too, Devon! I'll write to you too!"

"Alright, girls, the train will be leaving soon. Do you have all of your things?" their mother asked as the girl with shoulder length black hair released the boy named Devon. She had a soft, melodic voice that didn't sound concerned at all, and it was rather calming as well, just like her daughter's voice.

"Dad put it all on the train for us," the girl with wavy black hair replied. The mother smiled as she embraced both of her daughters.

"I'm going to miss both of you so much. I love you both," the mother whispered in her daughters' ears. A whistle from the red train on the platform made the mother release her daughters quickly. Around the family, students were saying their final good byes to their families, and then they were hurrying to catch the train before it departed for Hogwarts. The girls' mother gently pushed her daughters towards the train. "I'll see you two for Christmas."

"See you later, mum! You too, dad!" the girls called as they started to make their way towards the train. The girl with wavy black hair was faster than her twin, and she managed to make it onto the train before the doors started to close. Combined with the fact that the twins got separated in the mass of students trying to get on the train at once, the girl with shoulder length hair was one of the last ones to get onto the train. The doors closed behind her, and it was at that moment she stumbled, tripped, and fell. Her head collided with something, and she wasn't really sure who or what it was. She was sure of something though. At least, she was pretty sure of this. The last thing she thought she saw were a pair of hazel eyes as she slipped into a state of unconsciousness, but she wouldn't really know. Her glasses, which had black frames, had fallen off of her face when she fell.

_But according to him  
I'm beautiful,  
incredible,  
he can't get me out of his head.  
According to him  
I'm funny,  
irresistible,  
everything he ever wanted.  
Everything is opposite,  
I don't feel like stopping it,  
so baby tell me what I got to lose.  
He's into me for everything I'm not,  
according to you._

By the time the girl had woken up, it was mid-afternoon. She slowly opened her blue eyes, blinking to adjust her eyes to the light. It was bright, and it took her eyes a moment to adjust. The train was moving now, though. She could feel that much. She was about to sit up when she felt a pair of hands trying to keep her down.

"I wouldn't recommend sitting up if I were you. You hit your head on the wall when you fell," a masculine voice said. It looked like he had light brown hair, and she was probably imagining things, but those eyes looked like the same hazel ones she saw before she slipped into unconsciousness. "You weren't bleeding though. I checked for that. You just lost consciousness. I figured I would stay with you at least until you woke up. Oh, by the way, these are your glasses. They got broken when they fell off of your face, but I fixed them for you."

"Oh… thank you," the girl said softly. She took the glasses from the boy and smiled as she put them on. Everything was certainly much clearer now. Her head kind of hurt from the fall, but at least she could see now. The boy went to sit back down on the other bench in the compartment on the train. Next to him looked like a large pile of sweets; she recognized the packaging of the Chocolate Frogs. Her father brought them home every once in a while. "I'm Michelle, by the way."

"Remus Lupin. It's a pleasure to meet you. You're new here, aren't you?" the boy named Remus replied, a soft smile appearing on his face. Michelle noted that his voice was hoarse. Was he sick? He probably was. She sounded terrible when she was sick, and she was pretty much always sick.

"This is my first year, yes. I'm getting Sorted tonight. What House are you in?" Michelle replied.

"Gryffindor. I'm a fourth year this year," he replied. He picked up one of the Chocolate Frogs next to him and started to open the packaging. "Is there a House you're hoping to get into?"

"Oh, well, I don't really know much about the different Houses. Professor Dumbledore said my sister would do well in Ravenclaw since she asked a lot of questions when he gave us our letters, but I don't think I'd fit in Ravenclaw," Michelle replied. "Um, do you mind if I have one of your Chocolate Frogs?"

"You know about Chocolate Frogs, but not the Hogwarts Houses?" Remus asked curiously. Michelle slowly sat up, ignoring the pounding of her head as she did. Remus smiled and handed her a Chocolate Frog.

"I'm Muggleborn. My step-dad works at the Ministry though, and he's a pureblood. He said he was in Ravenclaw when he was in Hogwarts. I've had Chocolate Frogs before. He's brought them home for my siblings and me," Michelle replied. She opened the Chocolate Frog's packaging and took a bite out of the frog before it had any opportunity to leap away from her. That happened the first time she got one, and it taught her that she needed to be faster than the frog. Always faster than the frog. "He didn't want to spoil anything for us. He said it would be more exciting if we found out about the school and the Houses when we got to school and on the train. Something about making friends. Thanks for the frog, by the way."

"That would make sense. My mum and dad didn't believe in that approach with me. Then again, they were pretty excited that I was going to Hogwarts that they just told me all about it. They were a little worried that I wouldn't…" Remus trailed off, and Michelle looked at him curiously. He finished off his Chocolate Frog and cleared his throat before continuing. "Sorry. Anyways, there's four Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Gryffindors are generally brave and courageous. They can be daring and a little bold, and some Gryffindors are chivalrous, but that's mostly the boys. Ravenclaws are supposedly the smart ones. They're intelligent, and they're witty. They pretty much value knowledge. It's pretty rare when someone outside of Ravenclaw is at the top of your class. I think for my year, it's a girl named Helena Masters. Some of the Ravenclaws are kind of weird too. I saw a sixth year Ravenclaw… well, I guess she's a seventh year now since this was last year. Anyways, her name's Rachel Fleisher. She's a little weird. I'm pretty sure I saw her practicing Divination in the hallway, and she set up a shop to do palm reading. Divination's a terrible subject, by the way. I wouldn't recommend signing up for it for your third year."

"Remus, the Houses, not the classes. I'm going to be Sorted in a few hours. I'm not overly worried about a class I can't take until my third year," Michelle said. She had finished off her Chocolate Frog while Remus was talking about the Houses.

"Right, I'm sorry. So there's the Hufflepuffs, and they're pretty nice. If you ever need a friend, just go to a Hufflepuff. They're really friendly, and they're pretty patient too. Hufflepuffs are pretty protective of their friends and family, not that any of the other houses aren't like that, but Hufflepuffs apparently value it more than the others. I can say that if you get into Gryffindor, we look out for each other just like the Hufflepuffs do. Lastly are the Slytherins. I don't really see you getting into Slytherin since you're Muggleborn, and if there's one thing everyone should know about Slytherins it's that they hate Muggleborns. Slytherins and Gryffindors pretty much hate each other, although there's an exception to that. Lily Evans, a Gryffindor, and Severus Snape, a Slytherin, are pretty good friends. They're both in my year. Slytherins are pretty much the ones that become evil once they leave Hogwarts. They're all purebloods, and there might be a few half-bloods mixed in there too. Just avoid the Slytherins at all costs. They're not worth your time, Michelle," Remus finished. "Oh, and welcome to Hogwarts. If you get into Gryffindor, just look for James Potter, Sirius Black, or Peter Pettigrew. They're usually together. James has messy black hair, and Sirius has shaggy brown hair. Look for them, and they'll welcome you to the House. I'm sure they'll look after you too."

_According to you  
I'm boring,  
I'm moody,  
you can't take me any place.  
According to you  
I suck at telling jokes cause I always give it away.  
I'm the girl with the worst attention span;  
you're the boy who puts up with that.  
According to you. According to you._

"Welcome to Hogwarts, first years. My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall. I am the Transfiguration Professor here as well as Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House. The start of term feast will begin shortly, however, before that, you all will be sorted into one of four Houses, which will become like a second family to you over the next seven years. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each House has its own history, and each House has produced its fair share of famous witches and wizards. While you all are here, you will earn House points for your achievements, and you will lose House points for breaking rules. At the end of the school year, the House that has acquired the most points will win the House Cup, so I trust that each of you will do your best to try and achieve the cup for your house," Professor McGonagall said. McGonagall appeared to be a rather strict woman when Michelle first saw her. She was wearing emerald green robes, and her witch's hat was cocked to one side. "I suggest you all straighten yourselves out, and I will return for you all when the Sorting Ceremony is about to start. You are permitted to talk quietly until I return."

Before she left, Professor McGonagall stopped to look at a boy with red hair. Michelle followed the professor's gaze, and she spotted that the boy's tie was messed up. Professor McGonagall had left the room, and Michelle made her way over to the boy. Her sister was right behind her.

"You need help with your tie?" Michelle asked quietly.

"Yes, please! I couldn't find my brother on the train to have him help me, so I just tried my best. I don't think Professor McGonagall would be too happy if I walked in there with my tie like this," the boy replied.

"Alright, I'll fix it," Michelle replied. She untied the boy's tie, and then she fixed it so that it was tied up properly. "There you go. Professor McGonagall shouldn't have a problem with that."

"Thank you!" the boy said happily. "I'm Noah, by the way."

"No problem. I'm Michelle, and this is my sister, Mikaela," Michelle said. Mikaela waved shyly. Professor McGonagall stepped back into the room, and the girls turned around so that they could see her.

"Follow me. It's time for the Sorting Ceremony," McGonagall said. The first years followed Professor McGonagall into what was known as the Great Hall. The first year students were gasping and talking amongst themselves as they entered the hall.

In the Great Hall were five long tables. Four of these five tables belonged to each of the four Houses, and about a hundred or so students were sitting at each of them. The first years were standing in front of what Michelle assumed was the staff table. The older looking witches and wizards sat there, so it was only right that Michelle made that assumption. Windows were located in between the gargoyle heads that were holding torches with their mouths, but the biggest window was located behind the staff table.

"Alexander, Matthew!" McGonagall called. It was now that Michelle noticed the stool in front of the staff table. On the stool was an old hat that looked like it had been patched up a few times. Professor McGonagall was holding a long piece of parchment in her hand, and the old hat was in her other hand now as she had just picked it up. The boy identified as Matthew Alexander stepped up to the stool, and when he reached it and sat on it, Professor McGonagall placed the old hat on his head. It clearly didn't fit him as it covered his eyes.

"Ravenclaw!" the old hat shouted to the school. Michelle jumped at the sound of the hat's booming voice. McGonagall took the hat off of Matthew's head, and Michelle watched as he made his way over to the Ravenclaw table, which had erupted into a chorus of cheers and shouts when Matthew was Sorted into their House.

"It's a Sorting Hat. It's supposed to talk," Noah said in a quiet voice. Michelle jumped again, this time at the sound of Noah's voice. She turned back to look at him just as Professor McGonagall called out another name.

"How do you know?" Michelle asked.

"My brother goes here too, and he's in his third year as a Ravenclaw. I'm a pureblood, but my brother and I aren't as bad as those annoying Slytherins. He told me all about the Sorting Ceremony when he came home for the holidays in his first year. The hat will talk to you when you're wearing it, but you'll be the only one that can hear it, so don't worry, and don't freak out when it started talking to you," Noah replied with a grin.

"Derikson, Michelle!" McGonagall called. Michelle jumped a third time at the sound of her name. She had stopped paying attention when she started talking to Noah. Michelle smiled at Noah and her sister before walking up to take a seat on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head once Michelle was seated, and the hat covered her eyes. It was a good thing it did too. Michelle probably would have died if she saw the faces of the other students while she was being Sorted.

"You're going to be a particularly difficult young lady to Sort," the Sorting Hat said. It was talking. It was talking to her. Just like Noah said it would. Nothing to freak out about. "I won't be placing you in Slytherin, that's for sure. You certainly have a couple qualities that Slytherins have, but I don't think Slytherin would be the right place for you. You'd make a nice Ravenclaw, that's for sure. You're a clever girl. You're definitely courageous too. Oh, yes, definitely courageous. Daring too. Oh, my, and you're loyal to your family too, even going as far to protect them when they need it, and you're certainly a trustworthy young lady. Merlin's beard, this is the hardest Sorting I've ever had to do!"

There was a pause. Michelle held her breath. Was the Sorting Hat going to place her in Gryffindor? She remembered courage was something Gryffindors had. Remus said Gryffindors were daring too. It had listed off her qualities from each House. The hat said she wouldn't be in Slytherin, though. That was a plus. After what Remus had told her earlier about the Slytherins, she'd hate to be in their House.

"Alright, I think I know where you belong," the hat said aloud so that the entire hall could hear it. "Gryffindor!"

_But according to him  
I'm beautiful,  
incredible,  
he can't get me out of his head.  
According to him  
I'm funny,  
irresistible,  
everything he ever wanted.  
Everything is opposite,  
I don't feel like stopping it,  
so baby tell me what I got to lose.  
He's into me for everything I'm not,  
according to you._

The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers and shouts as Michelle hopped off of the stool and made her way to the excited table. As she walked along the table to search for a seat, she spotted a boy with messy black hair, and next to him was a boy with shaggy brown hair that fell to his shoulders. A larger boy was also with them, and he was sitting across from the other two boys. There was an empty space for Michelle, and based on the looks of the other two boys' faces, they clearly told their friend to move over. Regardless, Michelle took the space. The hall had quieted down just as Michelle sat down.

"Derikson, Mikaela," McGonagall called. A girl with wavy black hair that fell to just above the middle of her back made her way to the stool and sat on it. The hat was placed on her head, and it slid down to cover her eyes. Michelle sat up in her seat, and her fingers were crossed. Silence filled the Great Hall as the Sorting Hat debated where to place Michelle's twin sister.

"Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat finally called after a moment or two. The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers once more as Mikaela hopped off of the stool and went to join her sister at the table. The large boy moved over a little more, and Michelle moved down a little so that Mikaela could join them.

_I need to feel appreciated,  
like I'm not hated. oh... no...  
Why can't you see me through his eyes?  
It's too bad you're making me decide._

The Sorting Ceremony continued once Mikaela was seated, and students were Sorted into the different Houses. Mikaela had been the last person to be Sorted into Gryffindor, and the students at the Gryffindor table were getting a little anxious. They had gotten two girls in Michelle and Mikaela, and they got a boy in a young man named Harold Brunning.

"Merriweather, Allison," McGonagall called out. Michelle saw out of the corner of her eye that the boy with shaggy brown hair was sitting up a little straighter now. The blonde girl that had just been called up was on the stool, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head. More Gryffindors were sitting up now, and Michelle was sure that if Allison wasn't sorted into Gryffindor, the entire Gryffindor table was going to be furious.

"Gryffindor!" the hat called after a moment of thinking. McGonagall took the hat off of Allison's head, and no sooner had it been taken off of her head, the blonde girl was making her way towards the now rather excited Gryffindor table. Even Michelle put a smile on her face and clapped, and her sister was clapping and cheering just like the other Gryffindors around her.

The Gryffindor table calmed down once Allison had sat down at the table, and the Sorting Ceremony continued. Six more students were Sorted into Gryffindor, and there were now five new girls, including Michelle, Mikaela, and Allison, and four new boys, including Harold from earlier. Michelle was hoping that another boy would be Sorted into Gryffindor, that way there would be an even amount of new boys and girls in the house.

"Stanley, Noah," Professor McGonagall called. The boy with red hair that Michelle had helped before the ceremony started and sat on the stool. Noah seemed like a nice kid, so Michelle had her fingers crossed that he ended up in Gryffindor. Plus, he seemed like he knew a lot about the wizarding world, and Michelle knew she couldn't always bother Remus.

"Hufflepuff!" the Sorting Hat announced. The nearby Hufflepuff table started cheering, and Noah went off towards it as soon as the hat was removed from his head. Michelle uncrossed her fingers and a frown slowly appeared on her face. So much for spending hours on end with Noah. He was in Hufflepuff now, and she remembered reading in _Hogwarts: A History_ that each House had their own common rooms and sleeping quarters.

"Stevenson, Joseph," McGonagall called once the Hufflepuffs calmed down. A boy with shaggy black hair made his way to the stool and sat down.

"Slytherin!" the hat called. Professor McGonagall had barely placed the hat on his head for thirty seconds before it called out a House. The Sorting Hat did place some students a little faster than others, but Michelle had never seen someone get Sorted that quickly. Nevertheless, the Slytherins still cheered for their new housemate.

"Stewart, Raelynn," Professor McGonagall called. A girl with brown hair was next to having the hat placed on their head. She sat down on the stool, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on Raelynn's head.

"Ravenclaw!" the Sorting Hat called finally. Professor McGonagall removed the hat, and Raelynn made her way over to the Ravenclaw table. The students there seemed pretty happy to have another student join their ranks.

_According to me  
you're stupid,  
you're useless,  
you can't do anything right.  
But according to him  
I'm beautiful,  
incredible,  
he can't get me out of his head.  
According to him  
I'm funny,  
irresistible,  
everything he ever wanted.  
Everything is opposite,  
I don't feel like stopping it,  
baby tell me what I got to lose.  
He's into me for everything I'm not,  
according to you. (you, you)  
According to you. (you, you)_

The Sorting Ceremony came to a close about five minutes after Raelynn's Sorting. The last student to be Sorted tonight was a boy named Arnold Zacharias, and he was the fifth boy to be placed into Gryffindor. The stool and the hat were removed from the Great Hall, and once Professor McGonagall had returned and took her seat at the staff table, the golden plates on the tables were filled with food.

"Excuse me," the boy with shaggy brown hair said.

"Yes?" Mikaela asked. She had been putting food on her plate when the boy spoke to her.

"Would you mind passing the gravy?" he asked.

"Oh, sure," Mikaela replied. She picked up the gravy boat and passed it to the boy. He took it from Mikaela and poured some of the brown liquid onto his plate on top of his mashed potatoes and turkey. When he was done, he placed it back in the center of the table.

"Thank you, beautiful," the boy said. Mikaela blushed at the remark, and Michelle looked at the boy curiously.

"Sirius, they're only first years. This is their first night here. Certainly you can lay off for one night," the boy with black hair said.

"Oh, right, sorry," the boy named Sirius replied.

"Wait, he said your name was Sirius?" Michelle asked. The boy named Sirius nodded. "You're Remus' friends."

"Oh, yeah, Remus said something about you. You're Michelle, right? And you're her sister, aren't you? I think old McGonagall said your name was Mikaela?" the boy with black hair asked. Michelle and Mikaela nodded. "I'm James Potter. The boy next to me is Sirius Black, and the boy next to you, Mikaela, is Peter Pettigrew."

"Hi," Peter said after drinking some juice from his goblet.

"Where's Remus?" Michelle asked. Sirius took a glance up at the ceiling, and Michelle followed his gaze. The ceiling reflected the night sky, and tonight was a full moon.

"He wasn't feeling well, so he went ahead to the common room," James said. Michelle looked away from the ceiling and brought her attention to James. "He'll probably be feeling better tomorrow. You'll see him at breakfast, I'm sure."

"Oh," Michelle said softly.

_According to you  
I'm stupid,  
I'm useless,  
I can't do anything right._

The Start of Term feast came to a close with the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, reminding the students of a few rules. This included not going into the Forbidden Forest at any time, staying away from the Whomping Willow on the school grounds, not wandering the corridors after curfew, and no dueling in the hallways. He also added that there was a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and his name was Montague Ragastan.

Following Dumbledore's speech, a girl with red hair stood from the Gryffindor table. She was calling out to the first years, and Michelle and Mikaela stood to go join her. Some of the other first years joined them, and the girl with red hair led them up to the seventh floor and the Gryffindor Common Room.


	3. A Quidditch Star is Born

_Since I'm rewriting the story, I'm sort of making changes. Loads of them. The chapters are turning out to be longer, & it all seems to flow so much better. The song I originally used for this chapter was Leona Lewis' I See You. It was from the Avatar movie, the one with the blue people in it. :3 I'm using Coldplay's The Hardest Part now. I think it fits a little better. My goal is to have another chapter up by the end of the month. I'm in the process of preparing for NaNoWriMo right now as well, but I'll still try to get another chapter up. (: For now, here's chapter 2!_

Into the Moonlight

Chapter 2 – A Quidditch Star is Born

September 13, 1974 ~ **Coldplay **– The Hardest Part

_And the hardest part  
Was letting go, not taking part  
Was the hardest part_

A smile lit up Michelle's face as she sat with her newfound friends at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall for lunch. The girl to Michelle's left had long blonde hair tied up into a messy bun. Her name was Allison Merriweather. Michelle's twin sister, Mikaela, was seated across from her and Allison.

_And the strangest thing  
Was waiting for that bell to ring  
It was the strangest start_

"What do we have after lunch?" Mikaela asked. She placed her goblet back down on the table after taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Flying," Allison replied simply.

"Flying? How does that work out?" Mikaela asked.

"No idea. I'm an only child, and my mum never really told me about the wizarding world. I haven't heard anything from the Ravenclaws or the Hufflepuffs, and they had it this morning," Allison replied. "We could go ask them, though."

"No need to. Remus and Lily are coming this way," Michelle pointed out, her face turning a light shade of pink as she spoke. Lily Evans, a fourth year Gryffindor, had red hair and stunning green eyes. Michelle had heard over the course of the few weeks she had been at Hogwarts that Lily was pretty much known for being James Potter's love interest and for being Severus Snape's, a Slytherin in Lily's year, friend. It didn't take Michelle long to realize just how much Gryffindors and Slytherins detested each other. She knew by the end of her first day of classes.

"We've heard the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins have their Flying lesson this afternoon," Remus said as he took a seat next to Michelle. Lily seated herself next to Mikaela on the other side of the table. Michelle jumped at the sound of Remus' voice, and when he patted her shoulder, she tensed up before relaxing. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Michelle."

"It's fine," Michelle replied softly.

"We do have our Flying lesson today! How do they work, anyways? We haven't heard anything from the Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws," Allison chimed in.

"Yeah, we were about to go talk to Noah when Michelle saw you and Lily," Mikaela added.

"Well, we'll tell you. It's not as bad as you may think it is. It's actually pretty simple. Madame Hooch walks you through everything," Remus said.

"Yeah, you just go out to the Quidditch Pitch, and there should be some brooms lined up out there, and from there Madame Hooch will tell you what to do like Remus said. She's pretty strict, but she can be nice. Don't get on her bad side," Lily said.

"She threatens to expel people all the time, by the way. She threatened to expel James and Sirius in our Flying lesson for horse playing, and now James is a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Sirius is… well, Sirius. The point is, they're both still here," Remus added. "I've never seen Madame Hooch actually follow through on her threat to expel someone."

"So don't get on her bad side and do what she says. Great! This shouldn't be too bad," Allison said.

"It would be better if we didn't have it with the Slytherins," Mikaela mumbled.

"You get used to them," Lily said with a shrug.

"It's true. You sort of just learn to ignore them," Remus replied.

"We should get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get this over with," Michelle said softly as she stood up.

_I could feel it go down  
Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth  
Silver lining the cloud  
Oh and I  
I wish that I could work it out_

Michelle, Mikaela, and Allison were some of the first students that made their way onto the Quidditch Pitch after lunch. A couple other Gryffindors, a boy and a girl, as well as a few Slytherins, mainly boys, were already there. The Gryffindors were on one side by ten of the brooms, and the Slytherins stood across from them by the other ten brooms. The girls went to join their fellow Gryffindors, each one standing by their own broomstick. Soon enough, the rest of the students filed into the Quidditch Pitch and took their places by their brooms. Their teacher, a woman with short, spiky grey hair, took her place at the front of the class, and when she cleared her throat, the students went quiet, and their attention went to their professor.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson. I am Madame Hooch, your Flying instructor. I'm glad you all have come in and are already standing by a broomstick," Madame Hooch said. "Now then, hold your hand over your broomsticks like so," she paused to put her hand over her broomstick, "and say up."

As soon as the word "up" escaped Madame Hooch's mouth, her broomstick shot up into her hand. Her hand instinctively closed around the broom when it made contact with her hand. The first year Gryffindors and Slytherins put their hands over the broomsticks next to them, and students were saying up left and right. Some brooms just rolled over, some brooms flew into a student's hand, and others just did nothing at all. Michelle was one of the lucky students to have her broom fly straight into her hand when she said up. Mikaela's rolled around on the ground for a bit, and Allison's didn't do anything, even though the blonde girl was shouting at her broomstick.

_And the hardest part  
Was letting go, not taking part  
You really broke my heart_

"Very good, Miss Derikson," Madame Hooch said softly to Michelle as the instructor passed by. "No, no, Miss Merriweather! Shouting at your broom will not make it fly up into your hand! You have to be calm about it! Mr. Stevenson, I suggest you watch yourself, or the next face you make at Miss Derikson and Miss Merriweather will be one of hurt when you're packing your bags to go home tonight!"

After a few minutes, all twenty of the Gryffindors and Slytherins had their broomsticks in their hands.

"Alright, now mount your brooms, but do not kick off," Madame Hooch said. Her voice was very firm and rather commanding. The class mounted their brooms and waited for further instructions. "Now then, here's what you'll be doing. Kick off, take a few laps around the pitch, no more than three, and land safely. No horseplaying; if you're caught doing so, you'll be serving a nice detention with your Head of House, and I assure you it won't be fun. I don't want to take anyone to the Hospital Wing today."

As soon as Madame Hooch finished speaking, students kicked off into their air. Most of the Slytherins, mainly the boys but a handful of the girls too, didn't have a whole lot of difficulty taking their lap around the Quidditch Pitch. It was as if they grew up flying on broomsticks. Some of the Gryffindors didn't have much difficulty either. Allison was having a little difficulty since her broom kept flying too far left, and she nearly hit some of the checkered towers on the Quidditch Pitch. Mikaela wasn't flying too far off the ground, and a couple of the other Muggleborn Gryffindors were doing the same thing as her. Michelle was up in the air with some of the more experienced students. Despite being a Muggleborn who had never flown on a broomstick before, she was doing rather well.

_And I tried to sing  
But I couldn't think of anything  
And that was the hardest part_

Some of the students only opted to do one or two of the laps out of the three Madame Hooch was allowing them to do. The Muggleborn Gryffindors and the less experienced students were the first ones to land after one lap on the pitch. Some of the other students landed after completing a second lap. The only ones left in the air now were the ones who were completing their third lap, which mainly consisted of Michelle, some Slytherins, and a handful of Michelle's fellow Gryffindors. Mikaela and Allison had already landed.

As Michelle and the remaining fliers were going to join their classmates and Madame Hooch on the ground, one of the Slytherins, Mr. Stevenson as Madame Hooch had called him earlier, slammed into Michelle. Her broom spun out of control, and Michelle tightened her grip on the broom so that she wouldn't fly off. A couple Gryffindors tried to help, but Madame Hooch blew her whistle, and everyone landed, leaving Michelle in the air alone. The Slytherins were laughing as Michelle struggled to regain control of her broomstick. Madame Hooch was mounting her broomstick to fly into the air in an attempt to help Michelle, but the first year managed to land safely after regaining some sort of control of her broom.

"Class dismissed! Mr. Stevenson, you'll be receiving a detention with your Head of House, and I mean it! I will be speaking to Professor Slughorn later, and I will make sure you get that detention! Miss Derikson, you stay back," Madame Hooch said. The students dropped their brooms on the ground by the storeroom, and they exited the pitch to head back up to the castle; Mikaela took Michelle's broom over to the storeroom. There was still some time before their last class of the day; for the Gryffindors, it was Charms with the Hufflepuffs, and for the Slytherins, it was Herbology with the Ravenclaws.

"P-professor?" Michelle said timidly.

"Yes, Miss Derikson?" Madame Hooch asked. The older woman took out her wand and waved it once. The brooms that were piled just outside of the broom shed flew inside of it, and the door slammed shut as soon as the last broom cleared the threshold. She waved her wand again, and her broom flew off, presumably to her office, but Michelle wasn't really sure as to where it was going.

"Why did I have to stay back? It was Joseph that did something, not me," Michelle replied timidly. Madame Hooch turned to face Michelle, and the first year jumped.

"You're not in trouble, but I am taking you to see Professor McGonagall. I have a proposition for you, and I'm sure she and Mr. Potter will agree," Madame Hooch replied. "Now follow me."

_I could feel it go down  
You left the sweetest taste in my mouth  
You're a silver lining the clouds  
Oh and I  
Oh and I  
I wonder what it's all about  
I wonder what it's all about_

Madame Hooch knocked on the door to the Transfiguration classroom once she and Michelle arrived. The first year looked down at her hands, and she noticed that they were shaking a little. Michelle let out a bit of a shaky sigh. She liked Professor McGonagall; the Gryffindor Head of House was an excellent teacher and mentor, but she didn't appreciate misbehavior. If Michelle had to use one word to describe herself right now as she waited for McGonagall to open the door to the classroom, it would be nervous.

"Madame Hooch, what brings you here?" McGonagall asked once she opened the door. Michelle shifted slightly to see who was in the classroom. There was a reason as to why Professor McGonagall had opened the door just enough for her to poke her head out. The fourth year Gryffindors and Slytherins were in Transfiguration right now. Michelle's face paled. Not only was she going to get in trouble for something she didn't do, she was going to get in trouble in front of Remus.

"I have a proposition for you and Mr. Potter, and I daresay you'll agree. Could I speak with you and Mr. Potter, please?" Hooch replied.

"Yes, come in," McGonagall replied. She opened the door and went back to the front of the class. Madame Hooch and Michelle stepped into the classroom, the latter closing the door behind her, and stood in the back of the room. The entire class turned to look at who had entered, and Michelle found herself staring at the ground. She couldn't look at them; she probably would have fainted if she did. Actually, fainting sounded like a good idea right now to Michelle. An excellent idea, actually. "Alright class, finish reading the chapter on Vanishing spells, and if you want, you can start practicing ahead of time. We'll be working on them next class starting with needles. Class dismissed. Mr. Potter, I need you to stay back for a moment."

The students began packing their things, and they filed out of the classroom in groups. Michelle could hear some of them, specifically the Slytherins, saying mean things about her. The Gryffindors were mentioning something about not losing House points. Michelle closed her blue eyes. She didn't want to think about losing House points. She didn't want to be held responsible at the end of the school year if Gryffindor didn't win the House Cup.

Michelle heard the door close, and she looked up, opening her eyes as she did so. She saw not just James Potter looking at her curiously, but she saw Sirius, Peter, and Remus, the latter of which looked more concerned than curious, looking at her too. Madame Hooch said she wasn't getting into any trouble, but Michelle didn't want to believe that. She was standing in her Head of House's office. If that wasn't trouble, then she didn't know what was.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Lupin, I only asked for Mr. Potter to stay behind. The three of you can go now," McGonagall said to the boys. Peter was the only one that nodded, and he probably would have left the Transfiguration classroom if Sirius hadn't grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"James wanted us here for moral support," Sirius replied. "We won't do anything, professor, we swear! You can give us detention if we do anything!"

"Fine," McGonagall sighed. "Madame Hooch, you said you needed to speak with me and Potter?"

"Yes, I did. If I remember correctly, I do believe Gryffindor needed a new Chaser," Madame Hooch said. McGonagall and James nodded, and the latter's expression brightened considerably. "Well, I may have found you a new Chaser. Miss Derikson here is an excellent flier. I don't think I've seen a Muggleborn fly as well as she has in years!"

"Um, Professor McGonagall, I don't mean to intrude or anything, but Michelle's a first year. First years aren't allowed to have their own broomsticks, let alone play on their House's Quidditch team," Remus chimed in quietly. McGonagall waved him off, and Remus frowned.

"That may be true, Mr. Lupin, but if Madame Hooch says she's good, then if Mr. Potter here is okay with it, I think we can bend the rules a little bit to allow Miss Derikson here to play on the Gryffindor team, especially if it means we would have a chance to win the Quidditch House Cup back from Slytherin," McGonagall replied. She looked to James, who had a really big smile on his face. "Of course, Mr. Potter, you'll have to teach her about Quidditch."

"Not a problem! I'd love to have her on the team!" James said excitedly. "Come on, Michelle! We'll spend the rest of this period in the library, and I'll teach you all about Quidditch!"

_Everything I know is wrong  
Everything I do, it's just comes undone  
And everything is torn apart_

Michelle was seated with James and Sirius in the library at a table towards the back. Remus and Peter were sitting at a table not too far away. They were reading their Transfiguration books, but occasionally, Remus would look up and glance over at the table that Michelle, James, and Sirius were sitting at, and then he would go back to his Transfiguration book.

"Okay," James said once he dropped a pile of books on the table. Sirius placed one on the table and slid it across to Michelle. Remus looked up and glared at James. "I know what you're going to say, Moony. Be gentle with the books, I know, I know. I'm sorry. Anyways, Michelle, the book Sirius handed you is called _Quidditch Through the Ages_. You can read that in your spare time to learn about Quidditch."

"You should probably do it when you're not supposed to be doing any homework though. If Moony caught you reading that when you had an essay due the next day for Herbology or something, he'd snatch it out of your hands, and he wouldn't give it back until you finished the essay," Sirius added. Remus sighed and walked over to the table.

"Just because I took the book from you, Sirius, doesn't mean I'll do the same thing to Michelle. Besides, I'm sure she'd put a Herbology essay above reading a book about Quidditch," Remus said.

"Yeah, well, I figured I'd warn her anyways. You're already against her being on the team, and I wasn't sure if you'd be against her reading a book about Quidditch," Sirius replied.

"She's a first year! She could get hurt!" Remus replied defensively. Michelle felt her face begin to turn red, so she opened _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and started reading in an attempt to block out Sirius and Remus.

"You're only saying that because you love her!" Sirius replied. Remus' face turned a light shade of red as he backed away from the table. Michelle looked up, and she found herself looking between Remus and Sirius.

"I… I, uh… That's… I'll be over here, uh… reading my Transfiguration book," Remus replied, stumbling over his words. He turned around and quickly took his seat back at the table with Peter. As soon as he sat down, he was reading his Transfiguration book.

"Right, so these are some books on the rules of Quidditch and how to play," James said after awkwardly scratching his head. "Sirius and I will let you read through them, and if you have any questions while you're reading, just ask and we'll answer them for you."

Michelle nodded as she closed _Quidditch Through the Ages._ She pushed the old book aside and took one off the stack that James placed on the table. She opened the old book and began reading. It wasn't until she skimmed through all seven of the books that James had placed on the table that she began to ask questions.

"So there are seven players in Quidditch, right?" Michelle asked.

"Yep! You're a Chaser like me, so basically, we'll be throwing the Quaffle around to try and get it through the hoops at the opposite end of the Quidditch Pitch," James replied. "The other Chaser is a third year named Raymond Traven. He's not the best player in the world, but he was better than all of the others that tried out."

"Okay, and we have to get the Quaffle past the Keepers?" Michelle asked.

"Pretty much, yeah. It's easier said than it is done, and…" James paused. "Maybe it would be better if you actually saw all of this in action. I'll try to get the team together, and after dinner, we can all go down to the pitch and show you how it's done, okay?"

"That's fine. I can do my Herbology essay in History of Magic," Michelle replied. She could see Remus shaking his head out of the corner of her eye. "But for Remus' sake, I'll try to do it tonight after we get back to the common room."

_Oh and it's the hardest part  
That's the hardest part  
Yeah that's the hardest part  
That's the hardest part_

Michelle sighed as the quill she was trying to levitate made no motion to move. The first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were starting to learn how to use the spell _Wingardium Leviosa _by trying to levitate quills into the air. Mikaela and Allison weren't faring any better either.

"So what happened in McGonagall's office?" Allison asked. Charms class was pretty much used to talk with friends about private matters since everyone was practicing their spells.

"She let me on the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Michelle replied. "James was pretty excited to have me on the team, so I accepted."

"But you don't have a broom!" Mikaela said. "And you almost got killed today!"

"That's what Remus said when we were in the library," Michelle replied. "I'm going out to the Quidditch Pitch after dinner to learn about the game and see it in action. Professor McGonagall seemed pretty excited to see me on the team too. She said something about reclaiming the Quidditch House Cup from Slytherin."

"How are you going to get a broom, though?" Mikaela asked. "It's not like we can go to Diagon Alley and get you one!"

"I don't know. Next time we have Transfiguration, I'll talk to Professor McGonagall about getting a broom. I don't really want to use the school's brooms," Michelle said. "Regardless, I'm sure it won't be as bad as we're making it out to be. Winning the House Cup and the Quidditch House Cup would be a good thing."


	4. An Explosive Halloween Feast

_Wow, it's been awhile since I last wrote anything Harry Potter related. Since before NaNoWriMo. In my defense, I did finish this year for the first time, so it was all worth it. (: I hope this chapter makes up for the lack of Into the Moonlight you all have had over the past month or so. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far, and thank you to all of my readers! I will try to get a couple chapters posted this month, but don't keep your hopes up. I'm also starting at community college in January, so that may slow things down as well. Nevertheless, I hope you all keep reading! (: The song being used in this chapter is Tim Burton's This is Halloween because it was the first Halloween song that came to mind, and this chapter takes place on Halloween. I'd also like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, and if you don't celebrate that, then happy holidays! _

Into the Moonlight

Chapter 3 – An Explosive Halloween Feast

October 31, 1974 ~ **Tim Burton **– This is Halloween

_Boys and girls of every age_

_Wouldn't you like to see something strange?_

_Come with us and you will see_

_This, our town of Halloween_

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Pumpkins scream in the dead of night_

The past month or so had been long and exhausting for young Michelle Derikson. Between keeping up with her classes and going to Quidditch practice twice a week, she barely had time for any sort of social life. It was exhausting. If she didn't keep up with her classes, she would be kicked off of the Quidditch team. If she didn't go to practice, she would probably be kicked off of the team. It was a lose-lose situation, and Michelle quite liked playing Quidditch. She also quite liked her classes, and she would have been so sad if she got kicked out of Hogwarts because that would mean that she wouldn't be able to play Quidditch again or continue learning magic.

But today was Halloween, and today promised to be interesting. Remus had told Michelle about Halloween at Hogwarts. Classes were still held, but it all usually culminated in an exciting feast for dinner. The house ghosts even joined the students in their house for dinner, and pumpkins would float around the Great Hall with the candles that already usually floated around the hall. It was usually an exciting day at Hogwarts.

It was dinner time now though. Michelle was making her way down to the Great Hall with Remus. The latter was helping the former with her homework since she was starting to fall behind in her classes because of all of the Quidditch practices James was making her go through now that their first game against Slytherin was getting closer and closer. It was thanks to Remus that Michelle was even passing her classes. He had offered to help her out one evening after Michelle finally broke down because of stress, and she was very grateful for his help. Without it, she probably would have been kicked off of the Quidditch team five times over, and then James would have had to go find another new Chaser for the Gryffindor team. Michelle didn't want to put James through all of that, especially since Michelle was lucky enough to have McGonagall allow her be on the team. First years normally weren't allowed on their house teams.

Michelle and Remus joined Peter at the Gryffindor table; James and Sirius were nowhere to be found, and Michelle could see the worry on Remus' face. Peter was already eating, and he too seemed a little concerned that James and Sirius were nowhere to be found. Michelle was the only one that didn't seem too concerned, but she had only known James and Sirius for almost two months now. She didn't know everything about their pranking ways; she only knew what Remus had told her during their study sessions.

"You haven't seen James or Sirius, have you, Peter?" Remus asked. Michelle could hear the nervousness in his voice as she put some turkey on the gold plate in front of her. Peter only shook his head, and that prompted Remus to sigh.

"Not since we left Transfiguration," Peter mumbled after swallowing the bite of food he had just taken. Remus sighed again and shook his head. Transfiguration was the last class they had together.

"Of course. They're probably off planning something," Remus mumbled as he put food on his plate. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. James was sitting across from Peter now, and Sirius had moved to sit next to Michelle.

"Planning something? Silly Moony, why would we ever do that?" Sirius asked as he started piling food onto his plate.

"Yeah, Moony. Sirius and I? Plan something? Come on, we don't even do our Transfiguration homework. What makes you think that Sirius and I would plan something?" James chimed in. Michelle shook her head. The boys were always up to something; James and Sirius were known for their pranks on Severus Snape, and of course, the rest of Slytherin house.

"Seriously, what are you two up to tonight?" Remus asked, annoyed.

_This is Halloween, everybody make a scene_

_Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of__fright_

_It's our town, everybody scream_

_In this town of Halloween_

Sirius and James gestured to the floating pumpkins amongst the floating candles in the Great Hall. Remus sighed and shook his head. Michelle looked at the pumpkins curiously. What was the worst they could do? It wasn't like pumpkins normally exploded or anything like that.

"You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you?" Remus asked as he brought his attention back to James and Sirius.

"If what you're thinking is us making the pumpkins over the Slytherin table go boom, then yes, that is exactly what you're doing. You've hit the nail right on the head," James replied with a grin. A grin appeared on Sirius' face as well. Lily walked up to the group, and she took a seat next to Peter.

"You can't do anything tonight! Haven't you two lost us enough house points recently?" Lily scolded. Lily Evans was a Gryffindor in James and Sirius' year, and she was the object of James' constant affection. She had flaming red hair and beautiful green eyes. James was madly in love with her, but she usually pushed him away. Lily was also good friends with a Slytherin in their year by the name of Severus Snape. Michelle wasn't too fond of him, but she wasn't really fond of many Slytherins either. She usually tried to avoid them at all costs if it was at all possible.

"Oh, please, Lilykins. If it makes you feel any better, we'll try not to get too much pumpkin in Snivellus' hair," James replied nonchalantly. Snivellus was what James and Sirius usually called Severus. The boys weren't very fond of the snake that was ever so friendly with Lily.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't get any pumpkin in anyone's hair! We don't need to lose any more house points, James! If you keep this behavior up, we'll lose the House Cup again!" Lily hissed. The House Cup was awarded every June to the House that had received the most points throughout the year. Last year, Remus had told Michelle that Ravenclaw won it the past two years; in Remus' first year, the Slytherins won it, but only by a handful of points.

"Calm down, Lily. Sheesh, it's only October, and we're almost in November. Quidditch is going to be starting up soon, and I'm sure that Michelle here along with the rest of the Gryffindor team will help us win the Quidditch House Cup, which will in turn help us win the House Cup," Sirius replied, waving Lily off. His gaze fell to Michelle, and the first year Gryffindor looked up shyly. James was looking at her too, and she flinched. "You _will _help us win this year, right, Michelle?"

"Yeah! We have to win this year! Gryffindor needs the cup back!" James exclaimed.

"Um, yeah… sure. I'll, uh, try to help us win," Michelle replied nervously. Her face turned a little red, and she went back to eating, looking down at her plate. Remus placed a hand on her shoulder, and that made Michelle gasp and look up again.

"She also has to keep up with her studies, James. I think you and I both know she won't be allowed to stay on the team if she doesn't keep up with her classes," Remus chimed in sternly. Michelle looked over at Remus, and she could feel her face turning a little redder as a weak smile formed on her face.

"Yeah, yeah, that's nice, Moony. She's got you for that," Sirius replied dismissively, waving his hand at Remus, "I'm sure you'll keep her on track with her grades."

"Yes, well, you can also expect me to keep her from going to practice if she's not done with her homework. Especially if her grades start to slip," Remus replied sternly. Sirius and James waved Remus off dismissively again; they were well aware that the young man with light brown hair wouldn't keep Michelle from practice.

_I am the one hiding under your bed_

_Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red__  
__I am the one hiding under your stairs_

_Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair__  
__This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_In this town we call home_

_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song__  
__In this town, don't we love it now?_

_Everybody's waiting for the next surprise_

_Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can_

_Something's waiting now to pounce, and how__you'll scream__  
__Scream! This is Halloween_

_Red 'n' black, slimy green__  
__Aren't you scared?_

The Halloween feast had gone off without a hitch for the most part. Lily and Remus were having a conversation, and Sirius, James, and Peter were also having their own conversation. Michelle had moved to join some of the other first year Gryffindor girls, including her sister and Allison. She wasn't really listening to much of what the girls were saying as they were a little too preoccupied with gossiping about things that were going on in the school and boys, specifically James Potter and Sirius Black, who were just down the table.

"Hey, Michelle, you're not talking a lot today. What do you think of that Remus boy? He's kind of attractive, isn't he? You're always around him. Certainly you know a lot about him that you could tell us," a red-head asked. Her name was Opal Travers; she had a brother in Slytherin who was in Remus' year. Michelle knew that Opal was jealous of her because she was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a first year, and first year students weren't even allowed to have broomsticks. Opal wanted to be Miss Popularity, but unfortunately, she was failing at it.

"I think that Remus is quite nice and helpful. I'm around him so much because he's helping me keep up with my work. That's all we do. He helps me with my homework, and that's it," Michelle replied with a sigh, "and speaking of homework, I have some I need to finish. I'll see you guys later."

And with that said, Michelle stood up and walked back down the Gryffindor table to where Remus was sitting and took a seat in the empty space next to him. She waited until Lily had acknowledged her presence and left to go talk to Severus before speaking. They were in the middle of a conversation, and Michelle didn't want to interrupt. She quite liked Lily; she was a sweet girl, and Michelle commended her for putting up with James' constant flirting. Michelle wasn't sure how she did it, but she commended Lily for it.

"I thought you were talking to some of the girls in your year," Remus said nonchalantly once Lily was out of earshot.

"If by talking, you mean listening, then yes, that's exactly what I was doing. I wasn't actually participating in the conversation. All they were doing was gossiping, and that's not really something I'm into," Michelle replied, "I told them I was going to go finish my homework, and I kind of need your help with that."

"Unfortunately, it will have to wait. I think James and Sirius are up to something still," Remus said softly. Michelle turned to look at the boys in question; they were talking to Peter, who looked a little nervous. She brought her attention back to Remus and gave him a soft smile.

"I'll just go get started on my own then. Whenever you get up there, you can help me," Michelle said softly. She was about to get up, but she felt Remus' hand wrap around her wrist. That was keeping her from getting up and moving. Michelle brought her attention back to Remus, and there was a small frown on her face.

"Stay. They'll probably not do the prank they're planning if you're around," Remus whispered into Michelle's ear, brushing some stray, curly black hair behind her ear in the process. Michelle felt her face turning red again, and as Remus moved away from her ear, a smile was on his face. She looked away and allowed her hair to cover her face; she didn't want Remus to see that she was blushing. The first year Gryffindor wasn't quite sure why she was blushing. At eleven years old, she wasn't too interested in guys, but she still found herself blushing when she was around Remus and he did something really sweet for her.

BOOM! Michelle jumped at the sound of an explosion, and her head shot up. Remus had turned around to see what had happened. Screams followed the explosion, and laughter erupted from the Gryffindor table, starting with James and Sirius. Michelle turned around; Peter was gone. He had probably just left to go back to the common room.

"What are you two doing?" Michelle hissed in between explosions. She spun around and put her hands on the table, leaning on it and glaring at James and Sirius. One by one, the pumpkins over the Slytherin table exploded, splattering pumpkin onto the Slytherin students and anyone nearby, and the Gryffindors just continued to laugh. Out of the corner of one of her blue eyes, Michelle saw Lily leap out of her chair; she was probably going to talk to Severus. Chances were he probably knew who was responsible for the exploding pumpkins, and she was going to try and talk Severus out of doing anything. "You're going to get in so much trouble!"

"Don't worry about it, Michelle," Sirius said, waving Michelle off. He had stopped laughing long enough to speak to the first year girl before laughing again. Michelle's frown returned to her face, and she felt someone tugging gently on the sleeve of her black school robes. She turned to look at Remus, and he jumped; she had never glared at him before.

"What?" she snapped. Remus jumped again; Michelle was a scary person when she was angry, and for good reason too. Reasoning that Remus would see in just a few short seconds.

"Move," Remus whispered quickly. Michelle's expression of anger turned into one of confusion; she didn't have much of a chance to do anything as she was quickly pulled onto Remus' lap. She felt his arms wrap protectively around her waist. It was beautiful timing as Michelle caught only a glimmer of black robes with green trim lunging across the table where she had been standing seconds ago. Surrounding students leaped up, and Remus brought Michelle to her feet as he brought himself to his own feet as quickly as possible. He kept an arm wrapped protectively around Michelle's face, but the thought never crossed her mind; she was too stunned by what had just happened and what was happening now. James and Sirius had leaped up out of their seats and stumbled backwards, nearly colliding with the stone wall behind them.

"Severus, no!" a voice called out. Michelle's head turned to see Lily running towards them. Remus had moved himself out of her way, and Michelle stumbled along as well. Lily grabbed onto Severus and pulled him away from the Gryffindor table. A couple of the other Slytherins, a young boy with shaggy black hair like Sirius' was amongst them, backed away as well, and their attention was on Lily. Severus pushed her away, and Remus released Michelle to help the red-head keep her balance.

"I don't need your help, you filthy Mudblood," Severus snapped. It was like the whole Great Hall fell silent. A couple gasps were heard, but other than that, it was as if a silencing spell had been put on the hall. Michelle looked over at James and Sirius, and both of them were restraining each other from leaping over the table and pummeling Severus. She brought her gaze to Remus and Lily; the latter had tears filling her beautiful emerald green eyes, and the former looked rather furious too. Michelle timidly edged away from Remus; she was a little afraid of him when he looked angry like that.

"Fine. If that's how you feel, don't bother speaking to me again, Snape," Lily snapped back. She shoved Remus away and stormed off, leaving the Great Hall, which was still silent. Out of the corner of her blue eyes, Michelle say James move to go after Lily, but he froze when an older woman in emerald green robes that matched Lily's eyes approached the group.

"That's enough out of all of you. My office, now," the woman said. Michelle froze up. She couldn't move a muscle. The woman that had approached them was none other than Professor Minerva McGonagall. She was the Gryffindor Head of House, Deputy Headmistress (Michelle remembered her name from the letter she had received from Professor Dumbledore back in January), and the Transfiguration professor here at Hogwarts. To put it simply, Professor McGonagall was a woman Michelle not only looked up to, but she was a woman Michelle feared. She felt Remus gently tugging the sleeve of her black robes, and she reluctantly walked alongside him out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase to the first floor, where Professor McGonagall's classroom and office resided.

_Well, that's just fine_

_Say it once, say it twice_

_Take the chance and roll the dice_

_Ride with the moon in the dead of night__  
__Everybody scream, everybody scream__  
__In our town of Halloween_

_I am the clown with the tear-away face_

_Here in a flash and gone without a trace__  
__I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"_

_I am the wind blowing through your hair__I am the shadow on the moon at night_

_Filling your dreams to the brim with fright__  
__This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_Halloween! Halloween!__  
__Tender lumplings everywhere_

_Life's no fun without a good scare_

_That's our job, but we're not mean__in our town of Halloween__  
__In this town__  
__Don't we love it now?__  
__Everyone's waiting for the next surprise_

Michelle shifted slightly in the chair she sat in; she had to sit down. She nearly fell over in a fit of nervousness, and Remus wasn't about to let that happen in front of a bunch of Slytherins. That didn't keep Michelle from shaking though. The only thing that did keep her from shaking was Remus' comforting embrace. He had an arm around her shoulders, and she just leaned into his one armed embrace. It was the only thing that kept her from shaking uncontrollably because she was just that nervous. She was nearly two months into her first year at Hogwarts, and she had avoided trouble in these past two months. She didn't want today to be the first time she had gotten into trouble at Hogwarts. Worst of all, she didn't want her mum and dad finding out. That would have been the absolute worst.

The first year Gryffindor girl jumped when the door opened. She nervously turned around, peering over Remus' arm. Professor McGonagall had entered her office. McGonagall was an old woman, to put it simply, who always wore her greying brown hair in a bun. She always had on emerald green robes and a witch's hat. The Gryffindor Head of House was probably one of the strictest, if not the strictest, professors in all of Hogwarts. She was probably the strictest woman in all of Hogwarts history. Michelle looked up to the Transfiguration professor, but she also feared her.

Minerva McGonagall strode past the waiting students and stood behind her desk. Michelle noted that she looked furious. The first year Gryffindor girl had never seen the Transfiguration professor this angry before. She swept her green eyes across the six students in the room. A knock at the door brought her attention to that, and Michelle timidly turned around again, peering over Remus' arm. A portly man entered the room and closed the door behind him. Michelle knew who he was without even looking at his face; she could recognize him from a mile away. Professor Horace Slughorn was the Potions Master as well as the Slytherin Head of House; two of the students in the room were in his House. Severus Snape was a fourth year Slytherin, and the other boy, the one that looked similar to Sirius, was Regulus Black, Sirius' younger brother who was a third year Slytherin.

"So please explain to me why exactly you attempted to attack Mister Potter and Mister Black," McGonagall said, her gaze moving from Professor Slughorn to the Slytherin boys in front of her.

"They got pumpkin all over us!" Severus replied breathlessly, pointing a threatening finger at the four Gryffindors. A frown appeared on Remus' face, and Michelle's gaze moved to the floor; the eleven year old girl bit her lip. She could feel tears forming in her eyes, and she didn't want any to fall while she was in front of two of her professors and five older students.

"Pointing is rude, Snivellus," Sirius said nonchalantly, "surely your mother taught you some manners."

"That's enough, Mister Black," McGonagall said to Sirius. A quick look at Sirius effectively silenced the boy. McGonagall brought her gaze back to the Slytherin boys. Severus lowered his hand and scowled; Michelle could feel the tension growing in the room. "Nevertheless, that was no reason to nearly leap over the Gryffindor table and try to attack them. I think that warrants for fifty points from Slytherin for Mister Snape and Mister Black, and perhaps a detention could set the two of you straight as well. What do you think, Professor Slughorn?"

"Yes, yes, that's fine, Minerva," Professor Slughorn replied impatiently, waving his hand dismissively at his colleague, "if you don't mind, I'd like to take the boys down to my office to talk to them as well."

"Yes, that's fine. The three of you can go," McGonagall replied. Severus' scowl never left his face as he glared at the four Gryffindor students on his way out of the room, and a scowl quickly made its way onto Regulus' face after he heard McGonagall say that Slytherin had lost a total of a hundred house points in a matter of seconds and that he had detention. The two of them would be able to see soon just how much of a difference those one hundred points had made in the race for the House Cup in a matter of minutes; the House point hourglasses were in the Entrance Hall, so the boys and Slughorn would pass by the hourglasses filled with small red, green, blue, and yellow gems on their way to the dark and dreary dungeons. The two Slytherin boys and their Head of House exited McGonagall's office, and when the door closed, Minerva McGonagall's green eyes fell on Michelle, James, Sirius, and Remus.

"I don't know what I should do with the three of you," Minerva said, shaking her head, "the three of you are in detention so much, and I'm sure it's not really making much of a dent in your troublemaking ways."

"If we could say something, professor," James said quietly. He paused until Professor McGonagall nodded, which was James' signal for him to continue on. "Remus and Michelle had nothing to do with what happened in the Great Hall. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If anyone should get in trouble, it should be me and Sirius."

"Very well then," McGonagall said as Michelle looked up at her Head of House with large blue eyes that were sparkling with tears ready to start falling, "Mister Lupin, Miss Derikson, perhaps the two of you could go back to your common room. I'm sure Mister Potter and Mister Black will fill you in on what happens when they get back."

_Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back_

_And scream like a banshee_

_Make you jump out of your skin_

_This is Halloween, everyone scream_

_Won't ya please make way for a very special__guy_

_Our man jack is king of the pumpkin patch_

_Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now__  
__This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!__  
__In this town we call home_

_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song__  
__La la-la la, Halloween! Halloween!_

Remus and Michelle were the only two people in the Gryffindor Common Room when they arrived. Most of the other students were probably still down at the Halloween feast, and any students that were in the common room were probably in their dormitories, so the pair didn't know that they were actually there. Michelle was sitting at a table in the common room, her Potions notes spread out across the table, her textbook open to Forgetfulness Potions, an ink well with a quill inside, and blank parchment in front of her. The majority of her things took up the table in the common room. Remus was at the table with her, his Charms book open to _Accio_, his own ink well with a quill, and blank parchment in front of him. He didn't have nearly as much stuff in front of him as Michelle did.

They heard a creaking sound as they worked on homework for their respective courses. Michelle jumped at the noise, sending some of her notes onto the floor. Remus smiled softly and bent down to pick the first year's notes up as she looked towards the door. She leaped out of her chair and ran towards the couch upon seeing that it was James and Sirius. Michelle sat on the plush red couch, looking up at the two boys.

"What happened? Please tell me you two didn't get into too much trouble," Michelle asked. She was excited, yet concerned, and her naturally soft voice reflected that.

"Professor McGonagall kind of enjoyed our little prank on the Slytherins. She gave us a week's worth of detentions, but she didn't deduct any house points," James replied, "we just got lucky, I guess. I think she was pretty mad about what the Slytherins had done. Plus, we had told her that Snape called Lily a Mudblood."

Michelle's excitement and concern faded away and turned into curiosity as the boys sat down on both sides of her. Remus took a seat in a nearby armchair, which was also plush and red like the couch Michelle and the boys were sitting on, after picking up Michelle's notes and placing them neatly back on the table. She looked at James and Sirius, but she ultimately brought her gaze to Remus.

"What's a Mudblood?" Michelle asked innocently. James and Sirius looked at each other; the two had clearly forgotten Snape calling Lily a Mudblood in the Great Hall earlier in the evening. It was Remus who ultimately sighed, bringing Michelle's attention to the fourth year Gryffindor with beautiful hazel eyes.

"It means dirty blood. It's a foul name for people like you, Michelle, Muggleborn witches and wizards with no wizarding heritage in their families. Purebloods use it towards Muggleborns because they feel like they're better than everyone else," Remus said softly. A weak smile appeared on his face as he stood up and slowly approached Michelle. He kneeled down in front of her and took her hands in his own. "But I'm honestly surprised to even hear the term come out of Snape's mouth, and if anyone calls you that filthy name, don't you dare listen to them. You are an excellent witch, and you are a beautiful girl. Anyone who says otherwise is just stupid, and they're missing out on being friends with a lovely young witch."

A smile slowly appeared on Michelle's face as Remus stood up. She felt her face turn a little red again, and James and Sirius had grins on their faces. The boys looked as if they knew something she didn't. Remus let go of Michelle's hands and smiled; it was a tired smile, but it was a smile nevertheless.

"I'm going to bed. We have classes in the morning, and I don't know about you three, but I don't plan on falling asleep during them," Remus said softly. James and Sirius nodded, and Michelle's smile slowly faded away as Remus walked up towards the boys' dormitories. There were two things Michelle was happy about though: she hadn't gotten into trouble, and this was the best Halloween she ever had. She was sure that there would be even more exciting Halloweens at Hogwarts over the next few years, for as long as James and Sirius were still at Hogwarts, and maybe even beyond that.


	5. Holiday Lovin'

_So here we go with another chapter of Into the Moonlight. This probably would've been better fitting back in December, but it's still winter here in America, so I guess it's still kind of fitting. xD But yeah, here's another chapter~ The song is Winter Wonderland, and it was originally written by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith, so that's who the artists are. So many people sing it, but the lyrics are pretty much always the same. I figured I should just go with the original composer & lyricist rather than someone else. The lyrics this time around come from a site called .uk. Happy reading!_

Into the Moonlight

Chapter 4 – Holiday Lovin'

December 19, 1974 ~ **Felix Bernard & Richard B. Smith** – Winter Wonderland

_Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,  
In the lane, snow is glistening  
A beautiful sight,  
We're happy tonight.  
Walking in a winter wonderland._

October turned into November, and November turned into December. Autumn turned into winter, and as the days passed by, the temperature got colder and colder. By mid-December, the Hogwarts grounds were covered in a white blanket of snow. Hagrid, the school's gamekeeper, had brought in several evergreen trees to decorate the Great Hall with. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, decorated the trees using a few simple spells. Garland, shiny ornaments, and red and white candy canes hung from each of the trees in the hall.

Even the staff were starting to get into the holiday spirit. Teachers were starting to assign less and less homework as the holidays continued to approach. Even Professor McGonagall, who Michelle was sure would assign homework over the holidays, merely told the first year Gryffindor and Slytherin class to simply have a good break. Professor Flitwick hadn't even assigned homework the week leading up to the holidays.

_Gone away is the bluebird,  
Here to stay is a new bird  
He sings a love song,  
As we go along,  
Walking in a winter wonderland._ The morning of December the nineteenth was an exciting one. It was the first day of the winter holidays for the Hogwarts students. That meant that classes for the term were done, and they wouldn't start back up until after the New Year. It also meant that Michelle and Mikaela were going home to join their parents and younger brothers for the holidays. Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, and Lily were also headed home to their respective families for the holidays as well. "So how about we all meet up at some point during the holidays? Hogsmeade, maybe?" James suggested at breakfast that morning. The students that were leaving for the holidays would join the rest of the student body for breakfast, and they would leave for Hogsmeade an hour after breakfast. "I'll have to see. I may have plans," Remus said, shifting awkwardly, "I think I may be going to visit my grandmum on the twenty-sixth and staying there until term starts up again." "Okay, so we'll do it before Christmas then," James replied, "what about you, Peter? Are you free?" "I'll have to ask my parents when I get home. I'll send an owl with their answer," Peter said nervously. "Okay, well, I know Sirius will tag along since he's staying with me now," James said. Sirius had been staying with James since just before the school year started; his family had disowned him back when he was a first year for being put into Gryffindor, and Sirius had enough of the family just before his fourth year started. "What about you girls?" "I think we're free as long as it's not on Christmas," Michelle replied, looking at her twin sister, "we're not doing much, are we?" "We're visiting grandmum and grandpa on Christmas, but nothing before and after that," Mikaela replied, "we'll just need to know a day so that we can tell our parents. I'm sure they'll say yes." "How does the twenty-fourth sound then? That's Christmas Eve, so we could have a little get together in The Three Broomsticks," James suggested. "That sounds fine," Remus replied. Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement, and James grinned. "Great! I'll send you guys owls later with a specific time," James said cheerfully, "might even try and get Lily to come too. Merlin knows she needs some holiday cheer in her life." Lily Evans hadn't been her usual, peppy self after the incident at Halloween. Severus Snape had called her a Mudblood, a foul name for someone who was Muggleborn like Lily. Though Snape tried to reconcile with Lily, the red-head wouldn't have any of it. After that, Lily started spending more time with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter as well as other members of Gryffindor house. _In the meadow we can build a snowman,  
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown_ Following breakfast, Michelle met up with Remus in the Entrance Hall. They had made plans to go down to Hogsmeade Station together, and they were going to sit together for half the train ride. Halfway through, they would go their separate ways. Michelle would join the other first year Gryffindor girls, and Remus would go join James, Sirius, Peter, and possibly Lily. The pair wouldn't see each other again until their little get together on Christmas Eve. "It's a shame you're not staying at Hogwarts for the holidays," Remus mused as the pair walked through the Hogwarts gates and onto the path that lead to Hogsmeade. "Oh? Why's that?" Michelle asked as she adjusted the blue knit cap on her head. "Hogwarts is always nice during the holidays. I stayed one year, and it was nice. Not everyone stays, so you usually get the whole castle to yourself," Remus replied, "it's nice when you don't have so many people running around making tons of noise, and it helps that the professors don't give homework either." "Oh, well, maybe one year I'll stay," Michelle said. "You'll have to. Maybe next year," Remus suggested. They continued their walk in silence for a bit until they stepped into the wizarding village. They still had some time before they had to board the train headed back to King's Cross, so the pair stopped in Honeyduke's, the wizarding sweet shop that usually got a lot of business when the Hogwarts students were allowed to come to Hogsmeade. On specific weekends throughout the school year, Hogwarts students that were in their third year or above were allowed to go to Hogsmeade for the day. The majority of the students went, but some students stayed behind to finish homework; some of the older students had gotten bored of Hogsmeade and opted out of the trip to the wizarding village unless it was absolutely necessary. Inside the sweet shop, Michelle could feel her mouth watering. The eleven year old had a big sweet tooth, and this was like heaven for her. Her father had brought her wizarding sweets before, but she had never been in the shop they originated from. This was the first time she had ever been to Hogsmeade, as she wasn't allowed to go on the monthly weekend trips because she was a first year student. In two years, she would be able to join Remus and his friends on the Hogsmeade trips and enjoy them with her fellow Gryffindors. For now, though, she would just have to listen to the stories and hope that the village lived up to the hype that surrounded it. An hour later, Michelle and Remus made their way to Hogsmeade Station to join the rest of the student body headed back to London for the holidays. They boarded the large red and black train they came to Hogwarts in, and Michelle and Remus quickly found an empty compartment. _He'll say: Are you married?  
We'll say: No man,  
But you can do the job  
When you're in town._ They dumped their belongings in the seats, and candy from Honeyduke's Sweet Shop and bottles of butterbeer from The Three Broomsticks, a pub in Hogsmeade popular amongst the Hogwarts student body, scattered on the seats. "Try the butterbeer first," Remus suggested. He took a bottle filled of buttery yellow liquid and opened it, taking a sip of it. Michelle followed his actions with a bottle of her own, and she felt a smile form on her face. The butterbeer tasted like a mix of butter and cream soda, and it was a popular drink with the Hogwarts students. "I like it," Michelle replied after taking a second sip and draining half the bottle already. "I can see that," Remus chuckled. The rest of the train ride carried on like this. They sat, chatted, drank butterbeer, and ate wizarding candies, some of which Michelle had yet to try. They had bought a little bit of everything, and Michelle got extra of the treats she did like. The woman pushing the trolley on the train peered into their compartment and smiled; she didn't even bother to ask if they wanted anything because it was clearly obvious that they already had a little bit of everything and then some. "I guess it's time to part ways now," Remus said after the trolley lady passed by. "I guess so," Michelle replied, gathering her things. "I'll see you on Christmas Eve then," Remus said as he opened the compartment door for Michelle, who promptly stepped out. "Yep, see you then, Remus," Michelle said with a smile before walking away to go find her fellow first year Gryffindor girls. _Later on, we'll conspire,  
As we dream by the fire  
To face unafraid,  
The plans that we've made,  
Walking in a winter wonderland._ Even before she had entered the compartment that the first year Gryffindor girls were sitting in, Michelle could feel their gazes upon her. As soon as she entered the compartment and closed the door, the questions started flying out of the girls' mouths. "Did you snog him?" "What did you guys talk about?" "Does he like any of us?" "Does he have a girlfriend yet?" "What did he say about Potter and Black?" "Are Potter and Black single?" The only person that hadn't asked questions was Mikaela, and thankfully, Michelle's twin knew not to. Mikaela knew just how much these questions annoyed Michelle. These other Gryffindor girls didn't realize just how much the questions they consistently asked Michelle whenever she entered the room after spending any amount of time with Remus. "No, I didn't snog him," Michelle grudgingly answered as she sat down next to her sister by the window. She placed her bag of sweet treats on her lap, not wanting any of the girls to get their hands on them. "And we didn't talk about Remus' love life, or James and Sirius' for that matter." "Well, what did you talk about?" Allison asked. "None of your business," Michelle replied snappily. "Ooooh, defensive!" Opal said, grinning slyly, to which Michelle rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Opal. I don't go asking about your conversations with _every guy you talk to_," Michelle replied. "That's because they're my business and not yours!" Opal shouted. Michelle had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing. She truly believed that Opal Travers was a joke. "And besides, Lupin doesn't even like you! He thinks you're a dumb little first year who's doing so much for attention! He's told me that he thinks you're a crappy Quidditch player and that your little sap story about your dad is a lie!" Michelle opened her mouth to reply, but the moment she heard her sister's book slam shut, she closed her mouth. Mikaela stood up abruptly and made her way over to the compartment door. She paused at the door, turned to the first year Gryffindor girls in the room, and said, "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back later." And as soon as those words left her mouth, she exited the compartment and slammed the door shut, making all of the girls jump. Michelle sunk in her chair, her bag of sweets falling to the floor, and she closed her eyes. These holidays were getting off to a brilliant start. _In the meadow we can build a snowman,  
And pretend that he's a circus clown  
We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman,  
Until the other kids knock him down._ None of the girls spoke for the remainder of the train ride, and when the train came to a halt on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, they quickly left the compartment, leaving Michelle on her own. Michelle took her time leaving, and when she felt a familiar touch, she jumped and gasped. "Sorry, sorry!" Remus said hoarsely, putting the last of the treats into the bag they had fallen from, "I didn't mean to scare you." "It's fine. I didn't hear you come in," Michelle breathed, standing up. Remus brought himself back up to his full height as well, picking the bag up as well, and handed said bag back to Michelle, who took it with a weak smile. "We should get onto the platform. Your parents and sister are probably waiting for you," Remus suggested. Michelle nodded, and she followed Remus out of the compartment, off of the train, and onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. _When it snows, ain't it thrilling,  
Though your nose gets a chilling  
We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,  
Walking in a winter wonderland._ The platform was full of excited Hogwarts students reuniting with their families for the first time in months. Michelle tried to peer over the heads of the other students and their parents, trying to spot her mum, dad, sister, or brothers. They were probably looking for her, or maybe Mikaela was trying to find her. She hadn't seen her twin sister since she stormed out of the compartment earlier on the train. "Michelle," Remus said, nudging the first year girl. Michelle jumped again, but Remus' touch on her shoulder relaxed her. Continuing on, he pointed to an older brunette man and woman, a young girl about Michelle's age with black hair, and two small boys whose brunette hair was barely visible between all of the people on the platform. "I think I found your sister." Michelle stood on her toes, trying to peer over the heads of the other people and following Remus' finger to see where he was pointing. She spotted the brunette hair and the familiar, wavy black hair in the distance. When the girl with black hair turned so that Michelle could see her face, a smile lit up Michelle's face. "That's them. Thanks, Remus," Michelle said, her teeth chattering from the cold. She started to walk off, but Remus grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, causing her face to turn a deep shade of red. "I'll walk with you over there, just to make sure you make it over there," Remus said, taking his dark blue jacket off and placing it around Michelle's shoulders, "you can hold on to that until after break. Don't worry about me getting cold. I'll be fine." Michelle nodded as she properly put on Remus' jacket. Remus smiled and led the way through the crowds of families on the platform. He stopped not too far from Michelle's parents, and the young girl nearly ran into him. "I think you can get there from here by yourself," Remus said softly, "I'll see you on Christmas Eve in Hogsmeade." "Um, okay. Bye, Remus!" Michelle called as he walked away. Her face was red as she approached her parents, and she was quickly hugged by her mum. "whose jacket is that?" her father asked after her mum released her. "A friend's. It's cold, and he's letting me borrow it for the break," Michelle innocently replied. As soon as the gender of Remus was revealed to her father, Michelle's dad's face turned into that of anger; protective father mode had turned on. Her mother, on the other hand, had a knowing look on her face as Michelle turned to look in the direction that Remus had gone. He had already disappeared from view; he had probably already reunited with his parents and was heading home. Home. It felt weird being back in London. Hogwarts was starting to feel like home. Hogwarts was a second home. 


End file.
